“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.”— Charles Dickens, amazon.com
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”— Howard Zinn, amazon.com
“Sometimes, all you need is permission to feel. Sometimes what causes the most pain is actually the attempt to resist feeling, or the same that grows like thorns around it.”— Olivia Laing, amazon.com
“By not allowing ourselves to be vulnerable we might block shame, pain and disappointment. But so also growth, pleasure and love. If we don’t allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we don’t allow ourselves to experience life fully.”— Maria Stenvinkel, thoughtcatalog.com
“This one's the worst. This manipulation basically asks you to prove your love over and over again by giving your partner what they want. 'If you really loved me, you'd go to the store and get me some ice cream!' Or even, 'If you really loved me, you'd change your mind about having a baby.' This one…”— Teresa Newsome, bustle.com
“See? You never needed that wand or that cape. The power to feel unfocused shame and anxiety was within you this whole time.”— Night Vale podcast, twitter.com
“No one starts as a self-hater. But rack up all of your mistakes and take a large enough number of wrong turns in life and soon you stop trying to forgive yourself. Everywhere you look you find shame or failure staring back.”— André Aciman, amazon.com
“You’re only as sick as your secrets. If it is a secret—anything that makes you sort of shame-based—if you can claim it, it has a lot of less power over you.”— Carrie Fisher, palmbeachillustrated.com
“Work on closing the gap between who the world thinks you are and who you know you are.”— Brianna Wiest, amazon.com
“Anxiety stems from shame. It is the idea that who you are or what you are doing is 'not right' - therefore eliciting a rush of energy designed to help you 'fix' or change it. You're suffering because there's nothing you can fix to make that urgent, panicked feeling go away. It's a mismanaged percept…”— Brianna Wiest, amazon.com
“If your mom or that friend always mention your weight when they see you, it's OK to shut that down. It doesn't have to be some big, life changing conversation. It can be as simple as 'please stop mentioning my weight every time you see me.' These kinds of people think they mean well, but any positiv…”— Teresa Newsome, bustle.com
“But I see myself on the cross too. Beneath all of my posturing and image-tending, I’m a body, finite and frail, suffering life’s wounds and indignities. How many times in a single day do I feel abandoned, insufficient, or ridiculous in the eyes of others? This is a condition the spirit of God shares…”— Doug Frank, theotherjournal.com
“We love seeing raw truth and openness in other people, but we're afraid to let them see it in us. We're afraid that our truth isn't enough - that what we have to offer isn't enough without the bells and whistles, without editing, and impressing.”— Brené Brown, amazon.com
“Research tells us that we judge people in areas where we're vulnerable to shame, especially picking folks who are doing worse than we're doing. If I feel good about my parenting, I have no interest in judging other people's choices. If I feel good about my body, I don't go around making fun of other…”— Brené Brown, amazon.com