Quotes About Guilt

The past was all right there before me: generations of Koreans separated by division; decades of longing, loss, hurt, regret, guilt.

One of the more gratifying things about guilt is that it makes us feel important.

I know I ate at least four cookies, which probably guarantees me a first-class ticket to hell for gluttony.

Whether adult children of toxic parents were beaten when little or left alone too much, sexually abused or treated like fools, overprotected or overburdened by guilt, they almost all suffer surprisingly similar symptoms: damaged self-esteem, leading to self-destructive behavior. In one way or another, they almost all feel worthless, unlovable, and inadequate.

When a girl is sexually abused, layers of secrecy and shame are added to her self-blame. The incestuous aggressor always projects the guilt for his crime onto the child he is molesting. The girl then learns to see herself as dirty and worthless. Having accepted humiliation, and exploitation as the conditions of survival during childhood, the girl is likely to reenact that same abuser/victim relationship with men in her adult life.

Manipulative parents have a field day on holidays, spreading guilt as if it were Christmas cheer.

I came to realise that there are two facets to forgiveness: giving up the need for revenge, and absolving the guilty party of responsibility.

solid majority have suffered a damaged sense of self-worth because a parent had regularly hit them, or criticized them, or "joked" about how stupid or ugly or unwanted they were, or overwhelmed them with guilt, or sexually abused them, or forced too much responsibility on them, or desperately overprotected them.

If you were made to believe that your parents' feelings were your responsibility, you probably still believe that it's within your power to "make" them—and often everyone else—either happy or sad.

I felt totally alone, I felt like an awful person, I felt really guilty and very overwhelmed because I was trying to fix things I couldn't fix.

As adults, they often become trapped in a vicious cycle of accepting responsibility for everything, inevitably falling short, feeling guilty and inadequate, and then redoubling their efforts. This is a draining, depleting cycle that leads to an ever-increasing sense of failure.

When you ignore your needs for the sake of your mother's feelings, you are doing a disservice not only to yourself but to your mother, as well. The anger and resentment that you will inevitably feel cannot help but affect your relationship. And if your efforts to make your mother happy fail, you will feel guilty and inadequate.

We are not punished for our sins, we are punished by them. We can't live with guilt for the whole of our lives..

Nicole wanted to slap herself. She was supposed to be helping her friend, not making things worse. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I'm not helping.

Nicole wanted to slap herself. She was supposed to be helping her friend, not making things worse. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I'm not helping." "You're wrong.

You're wallowing in guilt and he's playing the martyr. It's like living in the middle of Hamlet .

I have knots in my years that I can`t undo, and this is one of the worst--the night I did wrong and Mauma got caught

I don't feel guilt at being unsociable, though I may sometimes regret it because my loneliness is painful. But when I move into the world, it feels like a moral fall – like seeking love in a whorehouse.

Contempt The contempt I feel for others—for myself different, less internal than guilt. It's not that I think (or have ever thought) I was bad—through and through. I think I'm unattractive, unloveable, because I'm incomplete. It's not what I am that's wrong, it's that I'm not more (responsive, alive, generous, considerate, original, sensitive, brave etc.). My profoundest experience is of indifference, rather than censure.

So far as we feel sympathy, we feel we are not accomplices to what caused the suffering. Our sympathy proclaims our innocence as well as our impotence.

I once read that the sociologist Jane Addams called this burden the "family claim," two words that explain it well enough: a bond—no, a bondage, braided of strands of guilt, duty, and affection.

Author describes that a failed sea captain, "vacillated miserably between self-recrimination and defensiveness.

Shameful, wouldn't you

You think I'm with you out of guilt?" "No, you ass. Of course not. I just mean—" "You're a nut, MacAllister. I'm with you because I love you." There it was, out. Three little words. Three of the most common words in the world, but string them together and they were more powerful than any warrant, any extradition papers, or even treaty. Stronger than any magical spell. Had he really never said them aloud to Taylor?