Daily Inspiration Quote by Henry Winkler

“A human being’s first responsibility is to shake hands with himself” lands like a backstage note from someone who’s spent decades being looked at, typed as, and talked about. Coming from Henry Winkler, the line isn’t trying to sound mystical; it’s trying to be usable. The handshake is a brilliantly ordinary metaphor: not a hug, not self-love confetti, but a basic social contract. It suggests you owe yourself the same minimum decency you’d offer a stranger. Not worship. Not indulgence. Recognition.

The subtext is pragmatic and slightly defiant. Actors live inside other people’s projections; Winkler in particular lived for years as “The Fonz,” a persona so iconic it could flatten the person underneath. Add his public openness about dyslexia and late-in-life academic struggles, and the quote reads like a corrective to shame: before you audition for the world’s approval, introduce yourself to you. Shake hands. Call a truce. Stop treating your inner life like an enemy camp.

“First responsibility” is the quiet power move. It reframes self-acceptance as ethics, not mood. If you can’t stand in basic agreement with yourself, every other commitment becomes performance - dutiful, brittle, easily hijacked by applause or panic. The line also carries an actor’s craft wisdom: you can’t play anyone convincingly if you don’t know where you end and the role begins.

Winkler’s intent feels less like inspiration and more like maintenance: a small ritual that keeps you from disappearing into what you’re expected to be.