Introduction:
Rejection is an inevitable part of life that can evoke a myriad of emotions, from disappointment to resilience. Whether in matters of love, career, or personal aspirations, the sting of rejection is universal. However, within the depths of rejection lies an opportunity for growth, self-reflection, and ultimately, strength. The words of others who have experienced rejection can serve as guiding lights, offering solace and wisdom to those navigating their own paths through setbacks and disappointments.
Welcome to our collection of rejection quotes, where poignant insights and words of encouragement await. Here, you’ll find a treasure trove of perspectives from writers, thinkers, and personalities who have grappled with rejection and emerged stronger. These quotes encapsulate the rawness of rejection and the resilience of the human spirit, reminding us that setbacks are not synonymous with failure, but rather stepping stones toward success. Scroll down to explore these quotes, whether to find solace in shared experiences or to draw inspiration for your journey forward.
If you give up at the first rejection or the first bad review, you will never make it in publishing. Jane Yolen
Well actually I don’t think it’s a bunch of bad things that send us to hell. I think it is rejection of God’s grace. Rick Warren
After so many years of rejection, I felt acting would have to become a hobby rather than a full-time profession. Fatima Sana Shaikh
Our judgment and moral categories, our idea of the future, our opinions about the present or about justice, peace, or war, everything, without excluding our rejections of Marxism, is impregnated with Marxism. Octavio Paz
Rejection and I are old friends. Michaela Watkins
Science is the search for truth, that is the effort to understand the world: it involves the rejection of bias, of dogma, of revelation, but not the rejection of morality. Linus Pauling
Attitude is your acceptance of the natural laws, or your rejection of the natural laws. Stuart Chase
Too many Christians have a commitment of convenience. They’ll stay faithful as long as it’s safe and doesn’t involve risk, rejection, or criticism. Instead of standing alone in the face of challenge or temptation, they check to see which way their friends are going. Charles Stanley
I always feel like rejection is my petrol. That’s what keeps me going. Laura Kightlinger
Rejecting the fundamental provision of the Civil Rights Act is a rejection of the foundational promise of America that all men and women should be treated equally, a promise for which many Americans have lost their lives. John Yarmuth
A girl who is interested in becoming a model must first accept the fact that she is the product. She must be ready to deal with a lot of rejection. Karolina Kurkova
I think that you have to believe in your destiny; that you will succeed, you will meet a lot of rejection and it is not always a straight path, there will be detours – so enjoy the view. Michael York
Our human tendency is to be impatient with the person who cannot see the truth that is so plain to us. We must be careful that our impatience is not interpreted as condemnation or rejection. Henry B. Eyring
What’s incredible with Trent Reznor is how he took all the alienation and the rejection of traditional rock and found a way to encapsulate it in a form that made the public finally get industrial music. Genesis P-Orridge
You can make something out of every unfinished story and every rejection if you work at it. Tomi Adeyemi
The biggest hurdle is rejection. Any business you start, be ready for it. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is the successful people do all the things the unsuccessful people don’t want to do. When 10 doors are slammed in your face, go to door number 11 enthusiastically, with a smile on your face. John Paul DeJoria
Dialogue and education for peace can help free our hearts from the impulse toward intolerance and the rejection of others. Daisaku Ikeda
Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss. Abba Eban
We all learn lessons in life. Some stick, some don’t. I have always learned more from rejection and failure than from acceptance and success. Henry Rollins
I find rejection or failure to be a really interesting and valuable experience. Brian Grazer
You’ve got to love this business. You have to be able to take rejection. Jessica Biel
Today is the first of August. It is hot, steamy and wet. It is raining. I am tempted to write a poem. But I remember what it said on one rejection slip: ‘After a heavy rainfall, poems titled ‘Rain’ pour in from across the nation.’ Sylvia Plath
I always knew I’d keep at it with the plodding doggedness that I used to master lump-less gravy and wriggle out of fitness classes; I always knew I’d get a zillion rejection slips. I figured I’d write part time while working various full-time office jobs, and maybe, maybe in my 50s, I’d be able to quit and try writing full time. MaryJanice Davidson
Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. Thomas Huxley
I was told to avoid the business all together because of the rejection. People would say to me, ‘Don’t you want to have a normal job and a normal family?’ I guess that would be good advice for some people, but I wanted to act. Jennifer Aniston
It is on the acceptance or rejection of the theory of the Unity of all in Nature, in its ultimate Essence, that mainly rests the belief or unbelief in the existence around us of other conscious beings besides the Spirits of the Dead. Helena Blavatsky
I feel that marriage can lead to the ultimate rejection and failure and divorce and things we all fear. Mike Birbiglia
Actors are no strangers to self-doubt, fear, and rejection. Monica Raymund
If I went by all the rejection I’ve had in my career, I should have given up a long time ago. Mike Myers
Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection. Marilyn Monroe
If I don’t book a job, I like to see it not as a rejection but as a redirection to something different. Bella Hadid
You get used to the rejection and you don’t take it personally. Daniel Craig
Every candle that gets lit in the dark room must feel a little rejection from the darkness around it, but the last thing I want from those who hold a different world view to me is to accept me. Kirk Cameron
Don’t let anyone, or any rejection, keep you from what you want. Ashley Tisdale
I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection. Billy Joel
Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap. Simone de Beauvoir
Take rejection as an eye-opener. Take it as something that pushes you and makes you do things better. Amit Sadh
I think I’m extremely vulnerable and that in some ways I seek out rejection. Never feeling like you’re getting that pat on the back from dad is probably at the heart of that. Skeet Ulrich
The rejection that we all take and the sadness and the aggravation and the loss of jobs and all of the things that we live through in our lives, without a sense of humor, I don’t know how people make it. Marlo Thomas
I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly. Howard Barker
An unexamined faith is not worth having, for fundamentalism and uncritical certitude entail the rejection of one of the great human gifts: that of free will, of the liberty to make up our own minds based on evidence and tradition and reason. Jon Meacham
Some actors couldn’t figure out how to withstand the constant rejection. They couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Harrison Ford
Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the furthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness: a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say ‘no.’ But saying ‘yes’ begins things. Saying ‘yes’ is how things grow. Stephen Colbert
It was the worst period of my life. I had all this gigantic acceptance as a kid, and all of a sudden there was this monumental rejection. Tommy Rettig
I don’t think feminism, as I understand the definition, implies the rejection of maternal values, nurturing children, caring about the men in your life. That is just nonsense to me. Hillary Clinton
I didn’t want to read French or write it; it was like a boycott, a rejection. Etel Adnan
I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat. Sylvester Stallone
I think it’s time to do clean-up for a generation. I believe this is one of the movies that hits home for all colors and all races. Everybody I talk to, black or white, suburban, rich or poor, can relate to rejection, can relate to not having a father or a mother. Derek Luke
Hollywood is a tough business and repeat rejection is very much part of the process. Sean Murray
Our rejection of the occupier at heart is resistance. Muqtada al Sadr
Equal rights for women. I agree with that concept. But we will never be free, we will never obtain equality, until we stop letting ourselves become pawns of the abortion industry. Our freedom depends on our rejection of abortion. Abby Johnson
Failure and rejection are important. Otherwise, you won’t value success. Aparshakti Khurana
An objection is not a rejection; it is simply a request for more information. Bo Bennett
Rejection doesn’t always mean I’m not good enough. Vincent Rodriguez III
I’m glad to have grown up in the countryside and played, and had to use my imagination rather than a TV and had to learn to act the hard way, to have dealt with the rejection. It’s a life as well as a job, at the end the day, we all have to work for a living, but we have to have a life as well. Jason Clarke
So struggling for work here has been very good for me, but it’s also been very hard to handle rejection. Patricia Velasquez
There’s nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself. James Lee Burke
My brother and I did theater in high school, and were both in Pennsylvania Youth Theatre. It was awesome. When you go to Los Angeles, it’s a rough city, and it’s hard. You drive around in your car in your own little bubble, and there’s tons of rejection. Being from the Lehigh Valley helped because it was something so stable. Kate Micucci
There is no one thing that can turn around a rejection. But there is one answer: begin talking to your customers who have already bought from you and discover why they bought. Jeffrey Gitomer
Everything’s borne out of human experience, of course – rejection, humiliation, poverty, whatever. People aren’t born bad, no matter how harsh the circumstances. There is a person in there, and that person is not made of ice. Aidan Gillen
At this point in my career, I don’t have to deal with audition rejections. So I get my rejection from other things. My children can make me feel rejected. They can humble you pretty quick. Al Pacino
The PLO and the Palestinian people adhere to the renouncement of violence and rejection and condemning of terrorism in all its forms, especially State terrorism, and adhere to all agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Mahmoud Abbas
I’m big on the importance of science, particularly right now at this point in time when there’s sort of a systematic rejection of science by a lot of people in America. Seth MacFarlane
As important as hustle is, grit and resilience are equally as important because there’s a lot of rejection in our business. Troy Carter
How one hates to think of oneself as alone. How one avoids it. It seems to imply rejection or unpopularity. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
What is rejection? Rejection is something that you try and you don’t get. Amit Sadh
A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success. Bo Bennett
The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart. Richard Adams
I feel rejecting rejection is one of the most crucial steps in getting past failure. John Rampton
Real estate sales was perfect training for the experience to go into public life because you learn to accept rejection, learn to meet new people, learn to work with people and find common ground. That’s the way you sell houses… that’s also the way you win over constituency. Johnny Isakson
The sinner who suddenly realizes God’s love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death. Mother Angelica
Rejection is a common occurrence. Learning that early and often will help you build up the tolerance and resistance to keep going and keep trying. Kevin Feige
Eartha Mae is very shy. She’s scared to be seen, scared of rejection and even afraid of affection. Relationships can be rather uncomfortable for her. But, as Eartha Kitt, it’s fine. I can accept and reject any time I want to. Do I ever reject? Not really. Although people think I do! Eartha Kitt
On ‘Saturday Night Live,’ I never really wrote. You know, I would just – I would let the writers cast me into the show. So my strength – and I put all my energies into performance. I just couldn’t deal with the rejection, you know, getting your sketches cut, and it was hard for me. Tracy Morgan
Most fears of rejection rest on the desire for approval from other people. Don’t base your self-esteem on their opinions. Harvey Mackay
I don’t really have disappointments, because I build myself up for rejection. Nicholas Hoult
Personally, I’ve learned about perseverance: when you hear the word ‘No,’ and when you hear rejection, that it’s not always final. And that timing is everything, and you have to stay the course and just keep working hard and know that, when your time comes, that it will be sweet and that it will be the perfect time. Angela Robinson
People could rationally decide that prolonged relationships take up too much time and effort and that they’d much rather do other kinds of things. But most people are afraid of rejection. Albert Ellis
Believe me, the next step is a currency crisis because there will be a rejection of the dollar, the rejection of the dollar is a big, big event, and then your personal liberties are going to be severely threatened. Ron Paul
There’s very little dislike of Americans in the world, shown by repeated polls, and the dissatisfaction – that is, the hatred and the anger – they come from acceptance of American values, not a rejection of them, and recognition that they’re rejected by the U.S. government and by U.S. elites, which does lead to hatred and anger. Noam Chomsky
Give yourself more opportunities for privacy, when you are not bombarded with duties and obligations. Privacy is not a rejection of those you love; it is your deserved respite for recharging your batteries. Wayne Dyer
A lot of people ask me, ‘How did you have the courage to walk up to record labels when you were 12 or 13 and jump right into the music industry?’ It’s because I knew I could never feel the kind of rejection that I felt in middle school. Because in the music industry, if they’re gonna say no to you, at least they’re gonna be polite about it. Taylor Swift
Football helped me with confidence that I needed. It gave me a sense of independence and earning my own money and my own keep. That’s what it served. It gave me the strength to be able to deal with rejection, politics, hard work, and being introduced to pain and embracing what’s uncomfortable. John David Washington
Certain things will always hurt: rejection, or loss. Joe Keery
I have learned not to allow rejection to move me. Cicely Tyson
Of course, technology is not an exogenous force over which humans have no control. We are not constrained by a binary choice between acceptance and rejection. Rather, the decisions we make every day as citizens, consumers, and investors guide technological progress. Klaus Schwab
I’d read a lot about the psychology around rejection and insecurity, and I had noticed that when people feel insecure or rejected, they behave aggressively, erratically. Especially when you can hide behind a screen name or a profile picture. Whitney Wolfe Herd
The best thing we can do with rejection is to make it a learning experience – rejection is a great teacher. Adena Friedman
You have people come into your life shockingly and surprisingly. You have losses that you never thought you’d experience. You have rejection and you have learn how to deal with that and how to get up the next day and go on with it. Taylor Swift
Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work. James Lee Burke
You can’t be afraid of rejection. That was one of my problems when I was approaching girls: I was always afraid of what they were going to say to me. Trevor Jackson
I think I’ve always been somebody, since the deaths of my father and brother, who was afraid to hope. So, I was more prepared for failure and for rejection than for success. Amy Tan
Initially, new ideas are rejected. Later they become dogma if you’re right. And if you’re really lucky, you can publish your rejections as part of your Nobel presentation. Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence. Ron Paul
One of the best predictors of ultimate success in either sales or non-sales selling isn’t natural talent or even industry expertise, but how you explain your failures and rejections. Daniel H. Pink
When I have criticism that I feel is unfair, the rejection does disturb me, but it also strengthens me. I used to get turned down for all sorts of jobs. I used to writhe in pain, but then I would say, ‘Good. Good. I will get stronger for this.’ Steven Berkoff
You’ve got to really be able to accept the rejection. Barry Mann
For every successful actor or actress, there are countless numbers who don’t make it. The name of the game is rejection. You go to an audition and you’re told you’re too tall or you’re too Irish or your nose is not quite right. You’re rejected for your education, you’re rejected for this or that and it’s really tough. Liam Neeson
It’s rare for someone to give you a helping hand when you’re going through rejection. Jaya Prada
I do whatever is necessary in order to maintain the equanimity we all need to withstand the disappointment and rejection that are the lot of every writer, no matter where we are in our careers. Dani Shapiro
