This is our pick of ten Katrina Mayer quotes, each with a few lines on what it means and how to use it today. Mayer is a living American writer and speaker, the author of The Mustard Seed Way and Wholarian Vision, so we've kept the selection small and pointed you to her books for the rest.
Some days the big books feel like too much. You don't have the energy for a chapter, but you can manage one sentence. We've all had those days, and on those days a single line that's true can do more than an hour of scrolling.
That's why her quotes travel so widely. They're short, plain and kind. So let's slow down and read ten of them properly.
Who Katrina Mayer is
Katrina Mayer, PhD, is a writer, keynote speaker and workshop leader. She spent almost twenty years in banking and finance, ending as an executive at a $41 billion bank, and in 2011 she left that job to write and speak full time. She has said she wanted to be a writer ever since she was a girl.
She's also an ordained interfaith minister, trained through The New Seminary in New York City, and she earned a doctorate in metaphysics from the American Institute of Holistic Theology. Her later work leans towards health and longevity: she trained in raw food nutrition at the Ann Wigmore Institute. She lives on a farm with her husband, the author Peter Ragnar, and a houseful of cats and dogs.
Both her books were published through the self-publishing house iUniverse. The Mustard Seed Way appeared in 2000. Wholarian Vision: How to Remember Your Connection to Everything followed in 2011, mixing prose, stories and poems around one idea: that we're all connected, and seeing that clearly helps us look at each other without prejudice.
A note on where these quotes come from
We want to be straight with you. Katrina Mayer's lines are shared all over Instagram, Pinterest and quote sites, often on pretty backgrounds with no source, and only some can be traced. Goodreads lists three of the quotes below under her name, and a writer quoting her in 2016 credited the line on loving yourself to The Mustard Seed Way. The rest circulate widely under her name, but we couldn't trace them to a page in her books.
So treat this as a reader's selection. If a line really matters to you, go to the books.
Ten Katrina Mayer quotes worth keeping
1. On self-respect
“Loving yourself isn’t vanity, it’s sanity.”
Katrina Mayer
This is one of the most shared lines under her name, credited by at least one writer to The Mustard Seed Way. It works because vanity and sanity sound almost the same, so the sentence makes you hear the difference. Looking after yourself is what keeps you steady enough to look after anyone else.
If you've been running on empty, take this as permission. Do one thing today purely because it's good for you.
2. On choosing your company
“When you learn to love your own company, you become far more careful about whom you spend your time with.”
Katrina Mayer
Here's a reframe we love. Being alone isn't the problem to fix. Once you actually enjoy your own company, you stop accepting people who drain you just to avoid an empty evening. The standard rises on its own.
So try a solo hour this week: a walk, a meal, a film. Notice how it changes who you want to call afterwards.
3. On what makes a heart rich
“The richest hearts are those that have given love and received love in return.”
Katrina Mayer
From someone who spent two decades in banking, this is a pointed definition of wealth. Notice it needs both halves. Giving love without ever letting it in leaves you tired, and taking without giving leaves you empty.
Which half do you find harder? If it's receiving, the next time someone offers help, say yes.
4. On saying and doing
“Integrity is making sure that the things you say and the things you do are in alignment.”
Katrina Mayer
This has always been our favourite. Integrity is one of those words that gets slippery when you try to pin it down, and she pins it down in one sentence. It's about the gap between your words and your actions, and keeping it small.
Pick one promise you've made recently, to someone else or to yourself, and close the gap on it today.
5. On the scars we can't see
“Do not be so quick to judge, just because you can't see the scars does not mean they are not there.”
Katrina Mayer
Most of what people carry doesn't show. The colleague who snapped at you, the friend who keeps cancelling: there may be a whole story you haven't been told. This line asks for a pause before the verdict.
Next time someone's behaviour irritates you, ask yourself what might be going on for them before you respond.
6. On hard times
“There is no life without challenge or adversity. So we have to decide whether to treat it as a friend or a foe.”
Katrina Mayer
Let's not pretend hard things can be avoided, and she doesn't. What she offers is a choice about the relationship. A foe is something you brace against. A friend is something you learn from, even when it's tough company.
Think of one challenge you're in right now. Write down one thing it's teaching you.
7. On getting lost
“Sometimes when you get lost, you find a better way.”
Katrina Mayer
If your plans have fallen apart, this one is for you. Detours take us places we'd never have chosen, and some of them turn out to be the point. Don't beat yourself up for the wrong turn.
Look back at one "wrong turn" in your life that led somewhere good. Let it remind you that this one might, too.
8. On walking alone
“Sometimes the path can seem a bit lonely. That’s okay. Keep walking anyway.”
Katrina Mayer
Look at the rhythm: a long sentence, then two short ones. "That's okay" is the heart of it. She doesn't promise the loneliness will end soon. She just tells you it's allowed, and that it isn't a reason to stop.
If you're on a path nobody around you quite understands, keep taking the next step. You don't need company to be right.
9. On nature
“Time spent in nature heals your body, mind & spirit.”
Katrina Mayer
This fits everything else she's done, from the farm to her work on health and longevity. Writer James Clear featured a similar line of hers about time among trees, from The Mustard Seed Way, in his newsletter in June 2026. For her, being outdoors is maintenance.
So go outside today, even for ten minutes. Leave your phone in your pocket and look up.
10. On books
“A book is a magical thing that lets you travel to far-away places without ever leaving your chair.”
Katrina Mayer
It's fitting to end with a writer on reading. This is one of the lines Goodreads lists under her name, and it's a reminder that escape doesn't have to cost much. A library card will do.
Choose a book tonight instead of a screen, even for twenty minutes.
Where to read Katrina Mayer
Her two books are the best way to meet her ideas in full, beyond the one-liners:
- Wholarian Vision: How to Remember Your Connection to Everything (iUniverse, 2011), her book on seeing ourselves as connected to everything and everyone.
- The Mustard Seed Way (2000), the source of several of her best-known lines. It's available through major booksellers.
You can also browse the quotes readers have collected on her Goodreads page. Her old website and Facebook page are no longer online, so the books are the surest way to read her own words.
One line at a time
None of these sentences will change your life on its own. But one of them, read on the right day, might change the next hour, and that's often where change starts.
So save the one that spoke to you. Write it on a sticky note, put it where you'll see it, and come back to it when you need it. We're glad you stopped by, and we're cheering you on.
Lifeism shares ideas and practices for reflection. It is not medical, psychological or financial advice. Read our Disclaimer.