Saying Yes Quotes

“Silence isn't always agreement. Sometimes people no longer argue because they no longer care.”
― Joyce Rachelle

“It is extremely important to be able to make negative assertions. We must be able to say what is ‘not me’ in order to have a ‘me’. What we like has no meaning unless we know what we don’t like. Our yes has no meaning if we never say no. My chosen profession has no passion if ‘just anyone would do’. Our opinions and thoughts mean very little if there is nothing we disagree with.”
― Henry Cloud, Changes That Heal: How to Understand the Past to Ensure a Healthier Future

“It takes effort to say no when our heart and brains and guts and, most important, pride are yearning to say yes. Practice.”
― Cole Harmonson, Pre Middle Age: 40 Lessons in Growing the Hell Up

“Deciding to actively heal is terrifying because it means opening up to hope. For many survivors, hope has brought only disappointment.
Although it is terrifying to say yes to yourself, it is also a tremendous relief when you finally stop and face your own demons.
There is something about looking terror in the face, and seeing your own reflection, that is strangely relieving. There is comfort in knowing that you don't have to pretend anymore, that you are going to do everything
within your power to heal. As one survivor
put it, "I know now that every time I accept
my past and respect where I am in the present, I am giving myself a future."
- The Courage to Heal”
― Ellen Bass, The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

“Oh God, can I keep you? You don’t need batteries, do you?”
― Barbara Elsborg, Saying Yes

“Until you learn how to confidently say NO to so many things, you shall always say YES to so many things. The real summary of a regretful life is a life that failed to balance YES and NO. Yes! A life that failed to recognize when to courageously say NO and when to confidently say YES!”
― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

“One summer at the fag end of the nineties, I had to go out of London to talk to a literary society, of the sort that must have been old-fashioned when the previous century closed. When the day came, I wondered why I'd agreed to it; but yes is easier than no, and of course when you make a promise you think the time will never arrive: that there will be a nuclear holocaust, or something else diverting.”
― Hilary Mantel

“A No Mentor is there to help you feel confident about saying no to the things you really don’t want to do anyway or to help you finally discover your strong, brave yes in the midst of fear.”
― Emily P. Freeman, The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions

“Stop saying 'no' to everything and start saying 'yes.' What's the worst that can happen? A bit of embarrassment, a bit of awkwardness. And what's the best that can happen? You might meet some interesting people, have some new experiences, enjoy yourself.”
― Sarah Haywood

“The only thing that she wants to do is keep moving forward. The only thing that she’s afraid of is standing still. That’s what the dead do.
Perhaps there’s another reason behind her fear of inaction, though she tries not to think about it. Inaction drove her and Robert apart. She is making up for saying no at the wrong moment by always saying yes.”
― Joe Heap, When the Music Stops

“The hike felt like such a momentous thing, but the hardest part of getting to the start had been the simple act of just saying yes.”
― Bex Band, Three Stripes South