Quotes About Vulnerability

Emily looked into his eyes. They were blank, unreadable. That was the worst kind of person, the scariest—the one who'd learned to keep his feelings out of his eyes. Or who didn't feel anything at all. Emily had known people like that; they were the destroyers. They took things—everything you worked for, all your silly dreams—and smashed them beneath their boots for no reason at all.

You can put on a mask and a costume for the rest of the world, but you can't hide from the people who changed your diapers.

Honestly, it's the most you can ask of men sometimes. They're so wound up, so buried beneath layers of "boys don't cry," and "pussy," and "man up," that they don't even know how to feel about anything. I should know.

I think we draw people into our lives...It's as though we broadcast our deepest needs...For better or worse, we attract our teachers, our allies, and sometimes even our own nightmares.

We pick our own predators.

She'd spun a web around Maggie's son without his knowing it, without even perhaps her intention. Spider silk was stronger than chain if you happened to be a fly. There

No one ever talks about issues like dissociative identity disorder, fugue, or psychotic breaks in anything but the most negative light. No one ever talks about how the personality does this type of thing to protect itself, to save itself, or how powerful and effective it is." I

it's the good and open hearted people, those with the most to give, who are the most vulnerable. Because they think everyone is honest as they are.

I want to unfold. Let no place in me hold itself closed, For where I am closed, I am false. Rainer Maria Rilke

That's how predators work. They give vulnerable people what they want or need, at first. They see a need, a desire, then they exploit, manipulate. When you're hooked, that's when the abuse starts.

Real life is what happens between those posts. And you only know the version people show you on Instagram. It's a fiction. And I guarantee every single one of those perfect people you see out there is feeling as lost and insecure as you are.

Everyone has flaws, even if you can't see them.

He was homeless in the truest sense, within.

When your heroes reveal themselves as human, it exposes your own flaws, too. Naivete, mainly, a willingness to believe in someone, something.

The watercolor sky—silver fading to blue fading to black, the high slice of moon and glimmering stars—reminded her that she'd always wanted to paint but didn't know how, was in some ways afraid of the idea of putting brush to canvas, of making a mark that couldn't be erased. The idea that she might create something that was laughable, pitiable, or silly had stopped her from ever taking a class or even buying paints. Foolish. It was foolish.

Don't we reveal ourselves slowly, in parts, to the people we are starting to love? Don't we pick and choose what we want them to see and when? Aren't we afraid to be judged or rejected because of who we are, at least a little at first, until we grow more intimate, feel safer beneath each other's gazes?

Viktor was swinging a leather duffle and wearing a black Adidas tracksuit and his favorite brown UGG slippers with a hole in the toe. Worn and old, just like Viv, he'd say when Frankie made fun of them, and then his wife would swat him on the arm. But Frankie knew he was just joking, because Viveka was the type of woman you wished was in a magazine just so you could stare at her violet-colored eyes and shiny black hair without being called a stalker or a freak.

For sure, I would much rather look as if I have it all together and never make mistakes. But as the Bible cautions us, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."12

Maybe superficial is exactly what I want right now. If you don't talk about anything that matters, no one can say anything that'll hurt you--and you don't have to talk about the things that are eating away at you from the inside.

It would be a shame if you were killed. I should be very sorry. I know I wouldn't like it to happen to me.

it is much easier to be brave if you do not know everything

She reached for Matty and embraced him. Ordinarily uncomfortable with hugs, he would have stiffened his shoulders and drawn back; but now, from exhaustion and affection, he held Kira and to his own amazement felt his eyes fill with tears.

It is much easier to be brave if you don't know everything.

You suggested, Jonas, that perhaps she wasn't brave enough? I don't know about bravery: what it is, what it means. I do know that I sat here numb with horror. Wretched with helplessness. And I listened as Rosemary told them that she would prefer to inject herself.