It was not in my nature to be an assertive person. I was used to looking to others for guidance, for influence, sometimes for the most basic cues of life. And yet writing stories is one of the most assertive things a person can do. Fiction is an act of willfulness, a deliberate effort to reconceive, to rearrange, to reconstitute nothing short of reality itself. Even among the most reluctant and doubtful of writers, this willfulness must emerge. Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying, “Listen to me.”

- Jhumpa Lahiri

“There is a fine line between assertiveness and being relaxed.Justin Guarini

” The basic difference between being assertive and being aggressive is how our words and behavior affect the rights and well being of others.” Sharon Anthony

“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” - Anthony Robbins

“Too many of us fail to fulfill our needs because we say no rather than yes, or perhaps later in life, yes when we should say no.” - William Glasser

“We are injured and hurt emotionally, not so much by other people or what they say and don’t say, but by our own attitude and our own response.” - Maxwell Maltz

“The practice of assertiveness: being authentic in our dealings with others; treating our values and persons with decent respect in social contexts; refusing to fake the reality of who we are or what we esteem in order to avoid disapproval; the willingness to stand up for ourselves and our ideas in appropriate ways in appropriate contexts”. Nathaniel Branden

“Let’s build bridges, not walls”. MLK, Jr.

“Modesty is related to difidence, difidence is related to shyness, Shyness is a synonym for timidity, timidity is a characteristic of the meek, the meek do not inherit the Earth, they serve those who are self confident and self assertive.” Dean Koontz