Entrepreneurship can be a difficult journey, full of highs and lows. It’s especially challenging when you hit a low point and feel like you’re the only one in the world who is struggling. That’s why it’s so important to find inspiration and motivation in other entrepreneurs, whether that comes in the form of quotes or real-life examples. In this blog post, we’ve compiled a list of shame quotes from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in history. Hopefully these quotes will help inspire you to keep pushing forward despite your struggles.

The best shame quotes

1. Does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors? — Saint Basil

2. If he couldn’t appreciate the passion and beauty in you than that’s his shame, not yours.’––Ciaran Ross, Killer Curves — Naima Simone, Killer Curves

3. Even the eternal skies weep, I thought; is there any shame then, that mortal man should spend himself in tears? — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

4. They say the brain never ages it’s a shame it can’t teach the body that trick. — Stanley Victor Paskavich

5. There is no shame in not knowing. The problem arises when irrational thought and attendant behavior fill the vacuum left by ignorance. — Neil Degrasse Tyson

6. Small children are great accepters. They don’t understand shame, or the need to hide things. — Stephen King

7. You’ve got to vote for someone. It’s a shame, but it’s got to be done. — Whoopi Goldberg

8. They had grown up on shame — it was the nutrient of their soil.

9. Praise shames me, for I secretly beg for it. — Rabindranath Tagore

10. We can’t be good unless we know what bad is, and it’s a shame we’re working against time. — Ray Bradbury

11. Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family. — Stephen Colbert

12. There’s no shame in admitting what you don’t know. The only shame is pretending you know all the answers. — Neil Degrasse Tyson

13. Shame is a state of mind. — A.D. Posey

14. Picasso had a saying–’good artists copy, great artists steal’–and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas. — Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs

15. …i am better Thoughtful Prince than King. Potential holds appeal since in its castle wallsOne is protected from the awful shameOf failure. — Mike Bartlett, King Charles III

16. You go to conferences, and your fellow African intellectuals–and even heads of state–they all say: ‘Nigeria is a big disappointment. It is the shame of the African continent.’ — Wole Soyinka

17. I hold my peace, sir? no; No, I will speak as liberal as the north; Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak. — William Shakespeare

18. Say not the days are evil.Who’s to blame? And fold the hands and say, oh, shame!Stand up! Speak out, and bravely, in God’s name, be strong! — Yolanda G. Guerra

19. Scarlett: You should die of shame to leave me here alone and helpless. Rhett: You helpless? (laughs) Heaven help the Yankees if they capture you. — Vivien Leigh

20. You cannot really shame a man who sincerely does not care what others think of him. — Mokokoma Mokhonoana

21. Your mistakes are to help you develop your purpose, not shame and guilt. — Sue Fitzmaurice

22. It is not human to be without shame and without desire. — Ursula K. Le Guin

23. Everybody’s having fun, except me I’m the lonely one I live in shame. — Ozzy Osbourne

24. Let life be short, else shame will be too long. — William Shakespeare

25. It was a shameful thing that she had nothing of which to be ashamed. — Philip José Farmer

26. I think racism is something that is passed on and taught to our kids, and that’s a shame. — Ruby Bridges

27. The cover up did have malicious intent, and shame on These three for all eternity. — Uma Thurman

28. You cannot really shame a man who sincerely does not care what others think of him. — Mokokoma Mokhonoana

29. I want to own this transition, not to simply swallow the shame of it entire. I will push for every little irony. — Suzanne Finnamore, Split: A Memoir of Divorce

30. A fellow by the hand of nature mark’d, Quoted, and sign’d, to do a deed of shame. — William Shakespeare

31. Adequate planning will rescue you from the shame of tomorrow — Topsy Gift

32. Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end; Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend. — William Shakespeare

33. It shames the average man to be valued below his own estimate of his worth. — Mark Twain

34. We all have thoughts that would shame the devil. — mark twain

35. So our narcissism has bared forth an unflattering nakedness that shames our species. But this is humanity. This is our condition. — Zack Love, The Syrian Virgin

36. Adequate planning will rescue you from the shame of tomorrow — Topsy Gift

37. I have found words [in the Bible] for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances for my hidden griefs, and pleadings for my shame and my feebleness. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

38. Fame without Jesus Christ is a shame hereafter . — Osunsakin Adewale

39. There is no shame in being illiterate. One need only feel ashamed when one denies the opportunity to learn. — Virginia Aird, Captive Angel

40. I think it’s a terrible shame that politics has become show business. — Sydney Pollack

41. What is important to us is to reverse the shameful course being pursued by America. It won’t be easy, but it must and can be done. — Noam Chomsky

42. I do love Christmas, although my wife puts me to shame. She is a huge Christmas fan, so we do love us some Christmas in our house. — Sebastian Arcelus

43. [l]ove … privileges another to see us in ways that would shame us and disgust others without the intervention of love. — William Ian Miller

44. A shame. As promising as a sky full’a rainbows but as useful as a bag’a dirt. — Quoleena Sbrocca, Rayne: OuterSphere

45. Plato is philosophy, and philosophy, Plato, ––at once the glory and the shame of mankind, since neither Saxon nor Roman have availed to add any idea to his categories. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

46. Shame on the men who can court exemption from present trouble and expense at the price of their own posterity’s liberty! — Samuel Adams

47. On the whole, we treat the Devil shamefully, and the worse we treat Him the more He laughs at us. — Robertson Davies, Fifth Business

48. The one who admonishes his brother secretly, he has advised sincerely and has honored him. If he does it outwardly (among others) then he has dishonored and shamed him.–Al — Shafi

49. Enemies aren’t always garnered through action… Sometimes they appear for no other reason than to shame the goodwill of loving & kind people. — Robert Vanleeuwen, Among Wolves’

50. I have found words [in the Bible] for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances for my hidden griefs, and pleadings for my shame and my feebleness. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Conclusion

Shame is an emotion that can be difficult to navigate and process. But, it is important to recognize and accept it in order to be able to move forward. Remember, “Shame is an alarm that goes off inside us when we’re doing something that conflicts with our values.” – Brene Brown. Thank you for reading this blog post and we hope that these quotes have helped you to better understand shame and how to work through it.