Quotes from Stephanie Golden

the impulse toward excessive self sacrifice comes from women's history, not their nature. The reason self-sacrifice seems so natural for women in Western culture is that centuries ago, we were handed the role of sacrificing and suffering for the benefit of the entire society—and we're still doing it.

Self-sacrifice is a power issue: inappropriate sacrifice is self-defeating and even destructive because it causes you to lose your power.

In appropriate sacrifice, the self maintins a solicitude for itself amid caring for others. It also feels a strong connection to other people. Growing out of the balance between caring for self and other simultaneously, it can accept other people as they are.