Quotes About Vulnerability

Henry had never wanted a man, had never wanted caresses or tenderness. She had certainly never wanted the dependency of love. Her fall was, therefore, all the harder. She had no defense against the pain of an emotion that she had never experienced before and that she did not understand.

I don't know, Jack. I only know that I love you. And were prepared to pour out all that love in one single night with me? Yes. And don't, please, ask me why. I don't know why. And I did not even know that I would be willing to do something so rash until it happened. And I did not know that I love you until tonight.

Soon Elizabeth had considered him to be her closest friend. She looked forward to meeting him. With him she felt free to pour out her innermost thoughts.

A passionate Freyja was a keg of powder exploding. A tender Freyja was far more deadly.

Smiles did not come naturally to him. He must learn how to let out the ones that were sometimes there deep inside him.

This house party was not safe at all.

And you would probably be always telling me that I am angry with you when I am not angry at all but only afraid of losing you.

And that is something else you do . . . You joke a great deal about yourself so that no one can get close to really knowing you.

Oh, but I do," Henrietta said earnestly. "' Twill come between us, Anna, and I have so enjoyed having a friend.

She willed herself to show no emotion. She steeled herself for the kiss on the hand that she half expected. She came near to crumbling when he kissed her instead, very gently, on the lips. Had he not gone immediately, in fact, without even stopping to look into her face again, he would have seen the tears spring to her eyes; he would have heard the sobs that felt as if they would tear her ribs apart. But he had gone.

Why do you hate yourself so much? He laughed harshly. You ask me that? he said. You know what I am, Diana. You know that I have nothing of any goodness or worth to offer you. And you don't even know the worst about me. I think I know the best about you, though, she said. You have a strong sense of decency and honor. Otherwise you would not be protecting me more than I am protecting myself.

God, he said very quietly. I have never been so terrified in my life. What? Diana frowned . . . I said I am terrified, he said. I think I am in love with you, Diana. I have never felt such a thing before or ever expected to do so. You don't have to say this, she said. I told you I expected nothing beyond tonight. I want a lifetime, he said. I want eternity. Diana, send me away.

Don't be coy, Suzanne, he said, advancing into the room and moving to her back to reverse the process with the buttons that the maid had begun. Today I need you.

Time didn't heal all wounds. Counseling certainly helped glue the broken pieces back together, but mended cracks remained vulnerable forever.

We are what we fear in others

privileged to share in the athletic power of a large and dangerous animal willing to be controlled by the small, frail strength of a mere human being.

Every one of them [prostitutes] has a story, and every story begins with a man who failed her. A husband who came home from the war, good for nothin' but drink. A father who didn't come home at all, or a stepfather who did. A brother who should have protected her. A beau who promised marriage and left when he got what he wanted, because he wouldn't marry a slut. If a girl like that has lost her way, it's because some worthless no-account sonofabitch left her in the wilderness alone.

It came to Morgan that Nicholas must have been a beaten boy, too, and that meant Grampa Earp was, as well. Which was no surprise, really, when Morg thought about that mean old man. How many sons were in that chain? Morgan wondered, and grief gave way to the pride he'd felt the day his brother Wyatt stood up to his first bully and put an end to a chain of vengeful, frightened, beaten boys.

You know what's the most terrifying thing about admitting that you're in love?" she asked him. "You are just naked. You put yourself in harm's way and you lay down all your defenses. No clothes, no weapons. Nowhere to hide. Completely vulnerable. The only thing that makes it tolerable is to believe the other person loves you back and that you can trust him not to hurt you.

Self-disclosure is almost like sex... It isn't easy to bare your soul

I wanted to leap up and defend her, perhaps throw my arms around her and protect her, but I just sat there like a nincompoop.

She couldn't feel anything inside herself now but flat metallic strength.

I don't mean you should despise people for being weak, if it's a kind of weakness they can't help. But when they're weak on purpose, it's another thing. When they don't even try. When they let people hurt them and don't fight back. It's gross. It's letting down the whole human race.

But this flower comes in the form of a human; it must soon succumb to disease, atrophy, ruined skin, broken teeth, the unbearable frailty of mortality.