These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in the "Hatful Of Hollow" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

Everyday you must say
oh so how do I feel about my life
anything is hard to find
when you will not open your eyes ¹
when will you accept yourself?
I am sick and I am dull
and I am plain
how dearly I'd love to get carried away
but dreams have a knack of just not coming true
and time is against me now
who and what to blame?
anything is hard to find
when you will not open your eyes
when will you accept yourself? ²
for heaven's sake
anything is hard to find
when you will not open your eyes
everyday you must say
how do I feel about the past
others conquered love - but I ran
I sat in my room and I drew up a plan
but plans can fall through as so often they do ³
and time is against me now ⁴
and there's no one left to blame
tell me when will you
when will you accept your life ²
the one you hate ⁵
for anything is hard to find
when you will not open your eyes
everyday you must say
how do I feel about my shoes
they make me awkward and plain ⁶
how dearly I would love to kick with the fray ⁷
but I once had a dream and it never came true
and time is against me now
time is against me now ⁴
and there's no one but yourself to blame
anything is hard to find
when you will not open your eyes
anything is hard to find
for heaven's sake ⁸
anything is hard to find
when you will not open your eyes
when will you accept yourself? ⁹
when?
when?
when?
when?

¹ In early rehearsals of this song, Morrissey sang the slightly different "if you will not open your eyes".

² In early demos of the song Morrissey reversed the lines "when will you accept yourself for heaven's sake" and "when will you accept your life, the one you hate".

³ In early versions of this song, plans, like dreams, "have a knack of not coming true" instead of falling through "... as so often they do".

⁴ In early rehearsals of this song, Morrissey followed with line with a repeat in a falsetto voice.

⁵ On the Peel session available on "Hatful Of Hollow", Morrissey sings "the one that you hate".

⁶ In early rehearsals of this song, Morrissey sang "they make me awkward and they make me so plain".

⁷ In early rehearsals of this song, Morrissey sang the slightly different "how dearly I'd love just to kick with the fray".

⁸ This is for the Peel session. On the studio version (from the "This Charming Man" single), Morrissey mumbles something undecipherable instead of "for heaven's sake".

⁹ On the studio version Morrissey sings "when will you accept your life?", just as he did in early rehearsals of the song.

Quotes

"One of the lines in the song 'Accept Yourself' is 'When will you accept your shoes?', and I find that so many people have this dilemma about shoes. If they have the wrong pair of shoes it can totally destroy their entire life. Similarly if people think their feet are too big, or that their nose is too big it can result in a diminished social life for totally false reasons."
- Morrissey, Undress, 1984

"We received so many letters by people utterly affected by this song, people who'd let their shoes and their past completely dominate their lives. (...) The fundamental request of Smithdom. Simply accept yourself, be yourself, relax, don't worry about anything as there's no point."
- Morrissey, interview source unknown