11 Jennifer Aniston Quotes About Feeling Beautiful

With the news that the iconic Jennifer Aniston is People 's 2016 Most Beautiful Woman Alive, it's only necessary that we look back at some of her most insightful and inspirational quotes about beauty and self-confidence. While there is no doubt that Aniston, 47, is outwardly stunning (her perfectly #bronde, pin-straight locks have been my hair envy/inspiration for 10 years, at least), it is Aniston's philosophy on inner beauty that truly makes her worthy of such a title. And after scouring over many, many Jennifer Aniston quotes about self-acceptance and her definition of beauty, it's abundantly clear, that at its core, it is surprisingly simple. It's about feeling at peace within yourself and working with what you have. It's about feeling comfortable in your own skin and having that radiate outwards. It's about creating your own happiness, because feeling good is the key to confidence, and confidence is the key to beauty. It's a radically simple philosophy, but one that takes years to cultivate — and it's one that Aniston has taken decades of life experience, and years in therapy, to figure out herself.

Beauty, to Aniston, is not about having the most sun-kissed strands or the most perfectly arched eyebrows or the most radiant skin (though she has all of that). Real beauty, as I've gathered from her various thoughts on the topic, is about knowing yourself from the inside out. It is feeling confident and comfortable in yourself. It's accepting yourself. It is living your life in the most honest, authentic way, doing things that bring you joy and happiness. It is about kindness and treating yourself right. And it is straight from the mouth of Most Beautiful herself.

1. "[Beauty is] inner confidence. Peace. Kindness. Honesty. A life well-lived."

"Taking on challenges and not feeling shame for things that haven't gone the way you felt they should have," she told People of her description of beauty. "And not feeling like a failure or allowing people to critique your life and make you feel like you've failed at something. That's just toxic noise."

2. "I feel beautiful when I wake up with my sweetheart."

"When I leave a photo shoot, because somehow miracles have been worked. When I come home from a night out with my honey and my makeup's a little smudged," she told Glamour in 2015. "I have many moments when I feel beautiful. It's all about having that inner confidence."

3. "I think I absolutely get more comfortable in my body and my skin as I get older."

"More than when I was in my 20s — I was so awkward and uncomfortable," Aniston revealed at a press conference in 2011, according to PopSugar. "And are men intimidated by older, more sexually confident women? I think men are intimidated by any woman who's sexually confident, no matter her age."

4. "All bodies are beautiful; let's face it."

"We are so overly critical of ourselves — with the obsession with perfection, trying to reach a goal that's unrealistic," she once told Refinery29. "We should take care of what we have and not take it for granted, because it’s our one body."

5. "...The most beautiful thing that reflects out is inner confidence."

"I feel physically better [than I did in my 20s]. I also love myself more," the actor told makeup artist Bobbi Brown in an interview for Yahoo. "That’s the most beautiful thing that reflects out is inner confidence and inner sort of love."

6. "I'm more comfortable in a simple dress I can just wear and kick off my shoes and sit cross-legged on the couch."

While the glamour of the red carpet is alluring, Jennifer Aniston is most like herself when she can just kick back on the sofa wearing a regular ol' dress, she told People in 2004.

"There are dresses that are exquisite, but you have to hold your breath to sit down or walk up stairs," she revealed. "I'm more comfortable in a simple dress I can just wear and kick off my shoes and sit cross-legged on the couch."

7. "If you're not happy, you can become happy."

"Happiness is a choice," she told Glamour in 2012. "That’s the thing I really feel."

8. "If I can be the first 80-year-old to go out there successfully in a bikini, then I'll take that on."

"I don't think anybody needs to rein in anything because of an age," Aniston told People in 2015. "That is absolute BS. To each his own! Everybody needs to stay in his own backyard."

9. "Emotionally and mentally, I would say it’s just about loving yourself and loving what you’ve been given."

In describing her beauty philosophy to Vogue , Aniston explained that it is all about self-acceptance. And water.

"Emotionally and mentally, I would say it’s just about loving yourself and loving what you’ve been given.To really appreciate it and take care of it," she revealed. "Because this is the only body we’re given, we need to be really good and mindful of what we eat and how we take care of our skin—getting a good night’s sleep is extremely important, as is hydrating with water, water, water. It’s so important to getting that extra glow."

10. "Developing your inner beauty is so important."

"Truthfully, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are so many versions of what that is. It's really about loving yourself, being good to yourself, and being healthy," she told InStyle . "It's important to think about what you put inside your body, but also what you put inside your ears and what you put inside your mouth. All of that is very precious."

11. "Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self."

When discussing the advice she'd give to herself in her thirties, Aniston was adamant about one thing: Go to therapy and learn about yourself.

"Go to therapy. Clean up all of the sh*t," she told Glamour in 2012. "Clean up all of the toxins and the noise. Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self."

Knowing yourself, accepting yourself, and loving yourself: These are the things that make you beautiful, and the things that no one and no thing — not an ex, not a bully, not time — will ever be able to take away from you. And that, according to Aniston, is exactly what real beauty is. Embrace it!