Member-only story

adages | religion | self-care | psychology | affirmations

Self Praise Stinks

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.; J.D.
3 min readNov 9, 2023

another myth that needs to go away

Photo by Katrina Wright on Unsplash

I recently read a discussion about self-worth, and this old adage popped up in my head:

“self-praise stinks”

It reminded me of the times in which I grew up when many parents said this to their kids and to their kid's friends. It was part of our upbringing to be told never to say anything good about ourselves.

I did not remember where this saying or myth came from — so I did some quick research.

Of course [sigh,] it has “biblical” origins. Which to me, means it was a control measure — to make sure you knew your place!!

And most probably was said more often to women and girls than to men and boys.

I’m not writing about loud bragging — like “some people” do about their wealth — I am writing about someone saying “I did a great job on that manuscript.” Or “Wow my presentation went well.”

Or even “I got a good grade on my test.”

Too often these comments are met with: “self-praise stinks”

--

--

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.; J.D.
Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.; J.D.

Written by Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.; J.D.

NYC native, snarky, opinionated octogenarian, educated [with PhD and JD]- I write, I talk, I think, I opine, I teach — and will do so until I can’t.

Responses (3)