Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. ~ Albert Einstein
It doesn’t matter how confident and resourceful of an entrepreneur you are, you’ll have those days when it’s difficult to rebound from a rejection because the acceptance was so important to you. I know you’re not going to give up, right? But a picker-upper or two will help you to let go and move on more quickly.
Here are 33 rejection quotes that will help you to do just that. Choose your favorites and bookmark this page for future inspiration.
1. “After rejection – misery, then thoughts of revenge, and finally, oh well, another try elsewhere.” ~ Mason Cooley
2. “You must learn how to handle rejection. To succeed, you must learn how to cope with a little word ‘no’, learn how to strip that rejection of all its power. The best salesmen are those who are rejected most. They are the ones who can take any ‘no’ and use it as a prod to go onto the next ‘yes’.”~ Tony Robbins
3. “Do not waste yourself in rejection; do not bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. “Practice, practice, practice until you eventually get numb on rejections.” ~ Brian Klemmer
5. “We will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way.” ~ Earl G. Graves
6. “I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.” ~ Sylvester Stallone
7. “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
5. “A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success.” ~ Bo Bennett
9. “Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work.” ~ James Lee Burke
10. “There’s nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself.” ~ James Lee Burke
11. “Have you had a failure or rejection? You could get bitter. That’s one way to deal with it. Or…you could just get BETTER. What do you think?” ~ Destiny Booze
12. “It is not rejection itself that people fear, it is the possible consequences of rejection. Preparing to accept those consequences and viewing rejection as a learning experience that will bring you closer to success, will not only help you to conquer the fear of rejection, but help you to appreciate rejection itself.” ~ Bo Bennett
13. “All great innovations are built on rejections.” ~ Louis Ferdinand Céline
14. “Misfortune is the best fortune. Rejection by all is victory.”~ Vālmīki
15. “Each rejection brings us closer to acceptance.”~ Ramesh Lohia
16 “Dearer are those who reject us as unworthy, for they add another life; they build a heaven before us whereof we had not dreamed, and thereby supply to us new powers out of the recesses of the spirit, and urge us to new and unattempted performances.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
17 “We are always afraid to ask because we aren’t afraid of the answer but the feeling of rejection” ~ Anna R.
18. “The world of romance and business works on this principle – You may be rejected several times, but not everyone will reject you.” ~ Amit Kalantri
19. “Constant acceptance breeds complacency and mediocrity. Rejection breeds determination and ultimate success.” ~ Robert Wade
20. “Rejection isn’t failure. Failure is giving up. Everybody gets rejected. It’s how you handle it that determines where you’ll end up.” ~ Richard Castle
21. “As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better.” ~ Steve Maraboli.
22. “Don’t let anyone, or any rejection, keep you from what you want” ~ Ashley
23. “Don’t take anything personally. Nothings others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” ~Don Miguel Ruiz
24. “Life is a succession of lessons, which must be lived to be understood.”~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
25. “How you react to rejection is important. It is not the rejection of others that truly affects us, the problem occurs when… that rejection by others causes us to ‘reject’ ourselves.” ~ Chris Tyrell
26. “It is necessary to put yourself out for rejection, and accept that you will be rejected.” ~Robert Genn
27. “I really wish I was less of a thinking man, and more a fool who’s not afraid of rejection.” ~ Billy Joel
28. “As long as I keep getting rejected, I know I must be doing something right.” ~ Suzanne Partridge
29. “Success is buried on the other side of rejection.” ~ Anthony Robbins
30. “Learn to eat rejection – it will make you stronger.” ~ Bob Ragland
31. “Rejection is a speck, like a bit of unwanted debris, imbedded like a pebble in our psyche, and it stays there niggling away and undermining our self-confidence until we feel strong enough to pull it out.” ~Janet Warrick
32. Rejection is the natural course of things. ~ Eric Walters
33. “I always feel like rejection is my petrol. That’s what keeps me going” ~ Laura Kightlinger
It’s a wrap
See rejection for what it is, a benchmark for what’s to come, a YES!
Your turn
How do you handle rejection personally and professionally?
Is the fear of rejection holding you back? Are you ready for a change? You’ll benefit from my FREE strategy session. Contact me today. You’ll be glad you did.
If you enjoyed reading this post, be sure to fill out this form to receive my blog post updates by e-mail, leave a comment below and share this with your family and
The best salesmen are those who are rejected most. They are the ones who can take any ‘no’ and use it as a prod to go onto the next ‘yes’.”~ Tony Robbins
If you can sell anything you can make your venture a big success according to me. But it all depends on the time you put in to better your skills overcoming the fear of failure.
Mukul, we can use rejection to strengthen our courage muscle and boost our self-confidence. The entrepreneurs who are capable of doing that are guaranteed success.
We make our words believe that there is still a long way to discover life and its wondrous diversities when rejected.
I appreciate your article on rejection. There is no one on this earth who is love and appreciated by everyone. When you’re rejected, look for the life lesson, learn, grow and move on. When you believe in yourself and your possibilities, rejections can never take it away.You may stumble but you’ll find your footing and you won’t fall.