“When the people who love you are the source of your pain, you’re always torn between wanting to be there for them and wanting to stay away. Wanting to reciprocate their love but also choosing your peace of mind.”— Rania Naim, thoughtcatalog.com
“You keep your horrible boyfriend around because you feel like shit and he’s the only one around who agrees with you. He validates the part of you that thinks you deserve bad things instead of good things.”— Gabourey Sidibe, amazon.com
“The lust and fucking like rabbits and letting your life fall to shit so you can be around him -- that's passion. It's borderline obsession. And it always burns itself out.”— Karin Slaughter, amazon.com
“I am worth more than these excuses. I am worth more than this inconsistent, unhealthy, disappointing dynamic. I am worthy of finding someone that is never going to allow us to settle into this toxic, distorted version of love.”— Liz Newman, amazon.com
“Most relevant to our story, activity in several of these brain regions has been correlated with the craving of cocaine addicts and other drugs. In short, as our brain scanning data show, these discarded lovers are still madly in love with and deeply attached to their rejecting partner. They are in p…”— Dr. Helen Fisher, nautil.us
“In threatening and survival situations, we look for evidence of hope – a small sign that the situation may improve. When an abuser/controller shows the victim some small kindness, even though it is to the abusers benefit as well, the victim interprets that small kindness as a positive trait of the c…”— Dr. Joe Carver, drjoecarver.makeswebsites.com
“needy, adj.: You wear your desire like a choking, pewter scarf, and find that suddenly everyone is allergic to pewter.”— David Levithan, twitter.com
“You may be one of those individuals who finds it too hard to accept the notion that there really are people as cunning, devious, and ruthless as your gut tells you the manipulator in your life is. That is, you may even be prone to engage in "neurotic" denial. If you are, even when you're confronted…”— George K. Simon, amazon.com
“As victims of psychological violence get closer to the precipice of truth, the man (or woman) behind the curtain creates a great deal of noise to divert their victims from ever seeing what is beneath the surface of their façade and grandiose claims of authenticity. The noise malignant narcissists cr…”— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com
“The erasure of the abuse was worse than the abuse. One of the most insidious things about gaslighting is the denial of reality. Being denied what you have seen. Being denied what you have experienced and know to be true. It can make you feel like you are crazy. But you are not crazy.”— Ariel Leve, theguardian.com
“Stop clinging onto people who only hurt you and take you for granted and cause you pain over and over again.”— Sophie Wrenfield, thoughtcatalog.com
“I'll never be that girl again. The girl who comes running back every time you push her away, the girl who loves you anyway.”— Jenny Han, amazon.com
“It’s okay to leave someone who doesn’t see the light that you see in yourself.”— R.H. Sin, rhsin.tumblr.com
“She is used to toxic relationships, so when you enter her life, she might be suspicious. She might think that you are too good to be true.”— Holly Riordan, thoughtcatalog.com
“It's funny how what you're used to seems like it's right even if it's bad.”— Lisa Wingate, amazon.com
“They were supposed to make you happy. They were supposed to make you feel safe and secure. Instead, they're just making you miserable.”— N.B., instagram.com
“We couldn't live with each other and we couldn't live without each other. We were in relationship limbo, caught between hope and hurt.”— Kevin Hart, amazon.com
“If you don't try to make it right, she might start to believe the lie you've told her and spend the rest of her life thinking she deserves poor treatment.”— Josh Shipp, amazon.com