Meaning

Eleanor Roosevelt's words place responsibility for self-worth firmly with the individual. The claim is that another person's attempt to diminish you only succeeds if you allow it to. By framing inferiority as something that requires consent, she shifts attention away from the person doing the belittling and toward the inner life of the person on the receiving end. It is a call to guard your own sense of value rather than surrendering it to someone else's opinion.

Context

Roosevelt lived a public life in which she was subjected to frequent criticism, ridicule, and social pressure, as a political figure, a woman who held strong independent views, and someone who did not conform easily to the expectations placed on her. Her writing and speeches often returned to themes of personal courage and self-possession. This particular line has been widely quoted and reprinted, though the precise original source has not been definitively confirmed by scholars. It is deeply consistent, however, with the philosophy she expressed throughout her public life: that dignity is an internal quality, not something others can simply take away.

About the author

Eleanor Roosevelt served as First Lady of the United States during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency and went on to become a significant public figure in her own right. She was a delegate to the United Nations and played an important role in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Throughout her life she was a vocal advocate for civil rights, women's equality, and the dignity of ordinary people. She remains one of the most admired American public figures of the twentieth century.