Quotes About Vulnerability

She wanted him to see all of her and also none of her. She wanted him to be dazzled by the bits and blinded by the whole. She wanted him to see her whole and not in pieces. She had hopes that were hard to satisfy.

Tibby cried into her soup when it finally came. I'm scared... , she told it. The carrots and peas made no reply, but she felt better for having told them.

It was frustrating when people loved you and took an interest in you and sometimes worried about you and personally cared what you did with yourself. Lena wished that love were something you could flip on and off. You could turn it on when you felt good bout yourself and worthy of it and generous enough to return it. You could clip it off when you needed to hide or self-destruct and had nothing at all to give. (Lena, 194)

She cared about him too much, and he was a dangerous person to love. He wouldn't love her back.

I mean putting yourself out there in the way of overwhelming happiness and knowing you're also putting yourself in the way of terrible harm. I'm scared to be this happy. I'm scared to be this extreme.

Honesty was a tough customer... Once you started allowing yourself some honesty, it couldn't easily be contained or limited to one part of your life. It was like poison ivy or a bossy houseguest. Once it was there, you couldn't tell it what to do. You had to really fight to keep it from taking over.

Carmen was bad at loving. She loved too hard.

Because she was raw and uncertain, and she liked to keep all the messy parts of herself to herself. ... As much as Lena liked to hide the mess and display the finished product, by this point she was all mess and no product.

Tibby was shaking her head. What? Bailey asked. Nothing. Just that you suprise me every day, Tibby said. Bailey smiled at her. I like that you let yourself be suprised.

It's always nervewracking to put yourself out there. But it's the root of joy.

But then she hadn't just learned to love this summer – she had also learned how to need.

The weather turned. Her skin seemed to grow a million extra pores, and all of them opened to take in the warmth and tenderness of the air. The sun on her face made her want to cry. Into all those millions of open pores came the sunshine, and other feelings as well. In and out. She was porous.

When you open yourself to somebody, when you feel these thing that you feel, well, what do you do? You can try to ignore it, maybe you can try to forget about it, but you can't undo it and you can't give it back.

Let me love you, but don't love me back. Do love me and lt me hate you for a while. Let me feel like I have some control, because I know I never do.

Lena wished that love were something you could flip on and off. You could turn it on when you felt good about yourself and worthy of it and generous enough to return it. You could flip it off when you needed to hide or self-destruct ad had nothing at all to give.

Everyone is fragile. Everything beautiful is fragile

But she knew from long-ago experience that when you were uncertain and if you were courageous enough to let her in, a real friend could do a world of good.

She was bad at love. She loved too hard.

She remembered me.' This was his worst weakness, his most toxic drug.

Lena felt like a child. Worse than a child and less valuable. She felt like a mouse. No, smaller than a mouse and less alive. Her life seemed so small and crumpled you could shoot it through a straw like a spitball.

She was so much softer then, so much more willing to fall in love, or believe she was.

The real lesson embodied in Katherine's three-year-old frame was the opposite: Try, reach, want, and you may fall. But even if you do, you might be okay anyway.

Quando anche le sue palpebre cominciarono a calare, Tibby si sdraiò con cautela, posando la testa sul cuscino, accanto a quella di Bailey. Sentiva il solletico leggero dei suoi capelli contro la guancia. Le lacrime le scivolarono fuori, scorsero oblique fino alle orecchie e sui capelli di Bailey. Sperava che andasse bene così. Sarebbe rimasta lì a tenere la mano di Bailey tutto il tempo, così lei non avrebbe avuto paura di non averne abbastanza

She could sit here and cry for as long as she liked. She could crawl under the desk. She could run around in the parking lot. She could live big. She could make herself to do things that were hard. She could.