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Shame Quotes

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Shame Quotes

“People help way more than we expect, way more than makes sense. But when you talk to people called heroes, they often say they did it for themselves. In one case, a hero said that the cost of not doing it is so great, the sense of shame, when he knew that he was strong enough, that the fear of not doing anything was more frightening than the fear of dying.”

PeopleWaySaidEnoughHelpingStrongCasesDyingHeroCostShameMake SenseFrighteningStrong EnoughFear Of Dying
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“'Brokeback Mountain' is a sad love story about two people who can't be together, and the reason that they can't be together is because being gay is a stigmatized thing. It would be interesting to have the same movie in which the two guys weren't in the closet and there was no shame about them being gay and they couldn't be together for other reasons. I still feel like we're a long way from that happening.”

PeopleWayFeelsLongStillsTwoReasonStoriesWould BeTogetherGuyInterestingGayMountainHappeningsShameLove StoryClosetsLong WayBeing GaySad LoveTwo GuysBrokeback Mountain
Author:Wesley Morris
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“I learned many lessons from my first race with my heroes. I learned it was easier to breathe when I cried, so I cried often and without shame. I learned that a teammate's faith in you can propel you up any mountain. I learned that winning requires an entirely different mind-set than not losing. I learned that the best teams in the world share not only their strengths but also their weaknesses. I learned that you don't inspire your teammates by showing them how amazing you are. You inspire them by showing them how amazing they are.”

WorldMindFirstsDifferentWinningRaceTeamShareInspireHeroEasierLessonsMountainLosingWeaknessShameBreatheCriedTeammateMy HeroMind SetBest TeamDifferent Minds
Author:Robyn Benincasa
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“When, however, you have an enemy, then do not requite him good for evil: for that would shame him. Instead, prove that he did some good for you. And rather be angry than put to shame! And when you are cursed, I do not like it that you want to bless. Rather curse a little also! And if you are done a great injustice, then quickly add five small ones. Hideous to behold is he who is obsessed with an injustice.”

IfsWantLittlesDoneEvilEnemyFiveProveShameAngryAddInjusticeCurseObsessedBlessCursedHideous
Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
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“Without a sense of the shame or guilt of his or her action, the child will only be hardened in rebellion by physical punishment. Shame (and praise) help the child to internalize the parent's judgment. It impresses upon the child that the parent is not only more powerful but also right. Like the Puritans, Locke (in 1690), wanted the child to adopt the parent's moral position, rather than simply bow to superior strength or social pressure.”

ChildrenHelpingActionWantedSocialParentPowerfulMoralPositionJudgmentPressurePraiseShameGuiltPunishmentSuperiorsRebellionBowsImpressPuritanHardenedSocial Pressure
Author:C. Sommerville
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“Don't be afraid of failure. That's not an easy lesson for teenagers - especially teenage girls - to learn. Our society sends us a lot of messages that imply we're supposed to be ashamed when we fall short. But I think we should be throwing each other failure parties!”

ThinkingShouldFallGirlEasyPartySocietyFailurePoliticianLessonsMessagesShameLawyerSupposed To BeTeenagerAshamedOur SocietyThrowingEncouragingTeenageFear Of FailureTeenage GirlAfraid Of Failure
Author:Reshma Saujani
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“I wanted other women to know there's no shame in talking about it. People don't say they're pregnant until the second trimester. I intellectually understand that you don't want the whole world to know your business, but at the same time what does that mean? You don't tell your employers you're pregnant, but then when you miscarry no one knows you miscarried. Miscarrying is a horrible painful event.”

PeopleKnowsWorldWantMeanDoeWholeWantedTalkingEventsShamePainfulWhole WorldHorriblePregnantEmployers
Author:Laura Benanti
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“I think there's a lot of shame in American race relations. There's a lot of suppressed guilt that lashes itself out still. I see that all the time, and whereas opposed to sort of trying to address the issue in an up-front way, they're attacking and thus perpetuating the problem thinking that they're being sophisticated and post-racial, when, in fact, they're being completely regressive.”

ThinkingWayTryingStillsFactsProblemRaceIssuesFrontsRelationShameGuiltPostsAddressesSophisticatedAttackingRace RelationsLashesPerpetuating
Author:Danny Strong
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“Choice! The key is choice. You have options. You need not spend your life wallowing in failure, ignorance, grief, poverty, shame, and self-pity. But hold on! If this is true then why have so many among us apparently elected to live in this manner? The answer is obvious. Those who live in unhappy failure have never exercised their options for a better way of life because they have never been aware that had any choices”

IfsWayNeedsSelfChoicesAnswersGriefPovertyIgnoranceKeysShameObviousUnhappyPityBetter WaysSelf PityWallowing
Author:Og Mandino
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“My patriotism is of the kind which is outraged by the notion that the United States never was a great nation until in a petty three months' campaign it knocked to pieces a poor, decrepit, bankrupt old state like Spain. To hold such an opinion as that is to abandon all American standards, to put shame and scorn on all that our ancestors tried to build up here, and to go over to the standards of which Spain is a representative.”

KindStatesThreeNationsPoorUnitedOpinionUnited StatesPiecesMonthsStandardsShameNotionCampaignsAbandonAncestorRepresentativesSpainPettyScornThree MonthsGreat NationsOutragedDecrepit
Book:War and Other Essays
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“Nakedness is very common in the tribe. It is not a shameful thing; it is an expression of one's relationship with the spirit of nature. To be naked is to be open-hearted. Normally kids stay naked until puberty and even beyond. It was only with the introduction of cheap cloth from the West, through Goodwill and other Christian organisations, that nakedness began to be associated with shame.”

KidsChristianSpiritCommonExpressionShameWestNakedTribesIntroductionHeartedShamefulGoodwillOrganisationPuberty
Book:Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman
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“Nowhere has truth such a short life as in Sicily; a fact has scarcely happened five minutes before its genuine kernel has vanished, been camouflaged, embellished, disfigured, squashed, annihilated by imagination and self interest; shame, fear, generosity, malice, opportunism, charity, all the passions, good as well as evil, fling themselves onto the fact and tear it to pieces; very soon it has vanished altogether.”

WellsSelfFactsPassionEvilInterestImaginationFivePiecesHappenedMinutesTearsShameCharityGenuineGenerosityFive MinutesSelf InterestMaliceShort LifeFlingKernelOpportunism
Author:Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
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“[T]he kingdom of heaven is of the childlike, of those who are easy to please, who love and who give pleasure. Mighty men of their hands, the smiters and the builders and the judges, have lived long and done sternly and yet preserved this lovely character; and among our carpet interests and twopenny concerns, the shame were indelible if we should lose it. Gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality; they are the perfect duties.”

IfsMenGivingShouldLongDoneCharacterHandsHeavenEasyInterestLosesPerfectPleasureJudgingDutyMoralityPleaseConcernShameLovelyKingdomsGentlenessCarpetCheerfulnessBuilderChildlikeKingdom Of HeavenIndelible
Author:Robert Louis Stevenson
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“Despite their differences, pride, shame, and guilt all activate similar neural circuits, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, insula, and the nucleus accumbens. Interestingly, pride is the most powerful of these emotions at triggering activity in these regions - except in the nucleus accumbens, where guilt and shame win out. This explains why it can be so appealing to heap guilt and shame on ourselves - they're activating the brain's reward center.”

WinningDifferencesPowerfulEmotionBrainPrideActivityShameGuiltRewardsIncludingDespiteRegionsMost PowerfulCircuitsActivateNucleusShame And Guilt
Author:David D. Burns
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“Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear. The same things happen to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened or because he would show a great spirit he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance and conceit should be stronger than wisdom.”

MenShouldDoeShowsHappensSpiritHappenedIgnoranceBearsStrongerShameRemainsThings HappenFirmConceitGreat Spirit
Book:Stoic Six Pack: Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Golden Sayings, Fragments and Discourses of Epictetus, Letters from a Stoic and The Enchiridion
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“The fundamental defect of fathers, in our competitive society, is that they want their children to be a credit to them. We all feel instinctively, that our children's success reflect glory upon ourselves, while their failures make us feel shame. Unfortunately, the successes which cause us to swell with pride are often of an undesirable kind.... Neither happiness nor virtue, but worldly success, is what the average father desires for his children.”

WantFeelsKindChildrenDesireFatherCausesVirtuePrideGloryShameOur ChildrenFundamentalsAverageCreditWorldlyDefectsUndesirable
Author:Bertrand Russell
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