Brene Brown Quotes About Life
I can confidently say that stories of pain and courage almost always include two things: praying and cussing. Sometimes at the exact same time.
— Brene Brown
Art has the power to render sorrow beautiful, make loneliness a shared experience, and transform despair into hope.
— Brene Brown
True belonging has no bunkers. We have to step out from behind the barricades of self-preservation and brave the wild.
— Brene Brown
If I get to be me, I belong. If I have to be like you, I fit in.
— Brene Brown
You will always belong anywhere you show up as yourself and talk about yourself and your work in a real way.
— Brene Brown
When we are in pain and fear, anger and hate are our go-to emotions.
— Brene Brown
Research shows that playing cards once a week or meeting friends every Wednesday night at Starbucks adds as many years to our lives as taking beta blockers or quitting a pack-a-day smoking habit.
— Brene Brown
Not enough of us know how to sit in pain with others. Worse, our discomfort shows up in ways that can hurt people and reinforce their own isolation.
— Brene Brown
Every story matters…We are all worthy of telling our stories and having them heard.
— Brene Brown
People are hard to hate close-up. Move in.
— Brene Brown
We have to listen to understand in the same way we want to be understood.
— Brene Brown
Social media are great for developing community, but for true belonging, real connection and real empathy require meeting real people in a real space in a real time.
— Brene Brown
I have started to believe that crying with strangers in person could save the world.
— Brene Brown
But what we know now is that when we deny our emotion, it owns us. When we own our emotion, we can rebuild and find our way through the pain.
— Brene Brown
When you are grateful for what you have, I know you understand the magnitude of what I have lost.
— Brene Brown
We have to find our way back to one another or fear wins.
— Brene Brown
We all need to be seen and honored in the same way that we all need to breathe.
— Brene Brown
A soft and open front is not being weak; it’s being brave, it’s being the wilderness.
— Brene Brown
Best Quotes From ‘Braving The Wilderness’
You’re doing important work. Keep doing it. Keep talking about your work. Don’t stop and don’t let anyone get in your way.
— Brene Brown
perspective is a function of experience
— Brene Brown
When we let people take our vulnerability or fill us with their hate, we turn over our entire life to them.
— Brene Brown
They may have permission to go to the zoo, but they still need to get on the bus.
— Brene Brown
Civility is claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs, and beliefs without degrading someone else’s in the process.
— Brene Brown
How much longer are we willing to keep pulling drowning people out of the river one by one, rather than walking to the headwaters of the river to find the source of the pain?
— Brene Brown
Protecting the status quo against our internal convictions is obviously a luxury of the privileged, because the underdogs and outliers and marginalized have no choice but to experience the daily wilderness
— Brene Brown
There is no true belonging, only an unspoken treaty to hate the same people. This fuels our spiritual crisis of disconnection.
— Brene Brown
Not only do moments of collective emotion remind us of what is possible between people, but they also remind us of what is true about the human spirit.
— Brene Brown
The paradox is that we all love the ready-made filing system, so handy when we want to quickly characterize people, but we resent it when we’re the ones getting filed away.
— Brene Brown
To brave the wilderness and become the wilderness we must learn how to trust ourselves and trust others.
— Brene Brown
Human approval is one of our most treasured idols, and the offering we must lay at its hungry feet is keeping others comfortable.
— Brene Brown
Trusting myself or other people is a vulnerable and courageous process.
— Brene Brown
Belonging to ourselves means being called to stand alone – to brave the wilderness of uncertainty, vulnerability, and criticism.
— Brene Brown
I believe joy is probably the most vulnerable emotion we experience.
— Brene Brown
The special courage it takes to experience true belonging is not just about braving the wilderness, it’s about becoming the wilderness.
— Brene Brown
The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching.
— Brene Brown
Brene Brown Quotes on Being Courageous & Vulnerable
Perfectionism is a self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimise the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.
— Brene Brown
You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.
— Brene Brown
Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.
— Brene Brown
Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.
— Brene Brown
Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
— Brene Brown
What we don’t need in the midst of struggle is shame for being human.
— Brene Brown
Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.
— Brene Brown
We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.
— Brene Brown
Don’t try to win over the haters; you are not a jackass whisperer.
— Brene Brown
To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.
— Brene Brown
Talk about your failures without apologizing.
— Brene Brown
Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.
— Brene Brown
The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.
— Brene Brown
Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.
— Brene Brown
Want to be happy? Stop trying to be perfect.
— Brene Brown
If we share our shame story with the wrong person, they can easily become one more piece of flying debris in an already dangerous storm.
— Brene Brown
Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves even when we risk disappointing others.
— Brene Brown
The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time.
— Brene Brown
Even to me the issue of ‘stay small, sweet, quiet, and modest’ sounds like an outdated problem, but the truth is that women still run into those demands whenever we find and use our voices.
— Brene Brown
Courage is like—it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: You get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging.
— Brene Brown
You cannot shame or belittle people into changing their behaviors.
— Brene Brown
Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable.
— Brene Brown
Who we are and how we engage with the world are much stronger predictors of how our children will do than what we know about parenting.
— Brene Brown
More Best Brene Brown Quotes
I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.
— Brene Brown
There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.
— Brene Brown
I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few.
— Brene Brown
The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.
— Brene Brown
I carry a small sheet of paper in my wallet that has written on it the names of people whose opinions of me matter. To be on that list, you have to love me for my strengths and struggles.
— Brene Brown
‘Crazy-busy’ is a great armor, it’s a great way for numbing. What a lot of us do is that we stay so busy, and so out in front of our life, that the truth of how we’re feeling and what we really need can’t catch up with us.
— Brene Brown
Faith minus vulnerability and mystery equals extremism. If you’ve got all the answers, then don’t call what you do ‘faith.’
— Brene Brown
I think our capacity for wholeheartedness can never be greater than our willingness to be broken-hearted. It means engaging with the world from a place of vulnerability and worthiness.
— Brene Brown
The difficult thing is that vulnerability is the first thing I look for in you and the last thing I’m willing to show you. In you, it’s courage and daring. In me, it’s weakness.
— Brene Brown
In many ways, September feels like the busiest time of the year: The kids go back to school, work piles up after the summer’s dog days, and Thanksgiving is suddenly upon us.
— Brene Brown
Shame is the most powerful, master emotion. It’s the fear that we’re not good enough.
— Brene Brown
We judge people in areas where we’re vulnerable to shame, especially picking folks who are doing worse than we’re doing.
— Brene Brown
Maybe stories are just data with a soul.
— Brene Brown
Through my research, I found that vulnerability is the glue that holds relationships together. It’s the magic sauce.
— Brene Brown
When we’re looking for compassion, we need someone who is deeply rooted, is able to bend and, most of all, embraces us for our strengths and struggles.
— Brene Brown
Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.
— Brene Brown
Ironically, parenting is a shame and judgment minefield precisely because most of us are wading through uncertainty and self-doubt when it comes to raising our children.
— Brene Brown
I’m like a recovering perfectionist. For me it’s one day at a time.
— Brene Brown
You cannot talk about race without talking about privilege. And when people start talking about privilege, they get paralyzed by shame.
— Brene Brown
The intention and outcome of vulnerability is trust, intimacy and connection. The outcome of oversharing is distrust, disconnection – and usually a little judgment. — Brene Brown If I feel good about my parenting, I have no interest in judging other people’s choices. If I feel good about my body, I don’t go around making fun of other people’s weight or appearance. We’re hard on each other because we’re using each other as a launching pad out of our own perceived deficiency.
— Brene Brown
Live-tweeting your bikini wax is not vulnerability. Nor is posting a blow-by-blow of your divorce . That’s an attempt to hot-wire connection. But you can’t cheat real connection. It’s built up slowly. It’s about trust and time.
— Brene Brown
We’re hardwired for connection. There’s no arguing with the bioscience. But we can want it so badly we’re trying to hot-wire it.
— Brene Brown
Guilt is just as powerful, but its influence is positive, while shame’s is destructive. Shame erodes our courage and fuels disengagement.
— Brene Brown
I’ve learned that men and women who are living wholehearted lives really allow themselves to soften into joy and happiness. They allow themselves to experience it.
— Brene Brown
One thing that I tell people all the time is, ‘I’m not going to answer a call from you after nine o’clock at night or before nine o’clock in the morning unless it’s an emergency.’
— Brene Brown
As unique as we all are, an awful lot of us want the same things. We want to shake up our current less-than-fulfilling lives. We want to be happier, more loving, forgiving and connected with the people around us.
— Brene Brown
As a vulnerability researcher, the greatest barrier I see is our low tolerance for vulnerability. We’re almost afraid to be happy. We feel like it’s inviting disaster.
— Brene Brown
I think if you follow anyone home, whether they live in Houston or London, and you sit at their dinner table and talk to them about their mother who has cancer or their child who is struggling in school, and their fears about watching their lives go by, I think we’re all the same.
— Brene Brown
A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don’t function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick.
— Brene Brown
You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.
— Brene Brown
Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.
— Brene Brown
Vulnerability is the birthplace of connection and the path to the feeling of worthiness. If it doesn’t feel vulnerable, the sharing is probably not constructive.
— Brene Brown
The best marriages are the ones where we can go out in the world and really put ourselves out there. A lot of times we’ll fail, and sometimes we’ll pull it off. But good marriages are when you can go home and know that your vulnerability will be honored as courage, and that you’ll find support.
— Brene Brown
Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.
— Brene Brown
When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible.
— Brene Brown
Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.
— Brene Brown
For me, the opposite of scarcity is not abundance. It’s enough. I’m enough. My kids are enough.
— Brene Brown
Social media has given us this idea that we should all have a posse of friends when in reality, if we have one or two really good friends, we are lucky.
— Brene Brown
To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability.
— Brene Brown
When you stop caring what people think, you lose your capacity for connection. When you’re defined by it, you lose our capacity for vulnerability.
— Brene Brown
I’m not a parenting expert. In fact, I’m not sure that I even believe in the idea of ‘parenting experts.’ I’m an engaged, imperfect parent and a passionate researcher. I’m an experienced mapmaker and a stumbling traveler. Like many of you, parenting is by far my boldest and most daring adventure.
— Brene Brown
It’s hard to practice compassion when we’re struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance.
— Brene Brown
What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think – or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?
— Brene Brown
Vulnerability is not weakness. And that myth is profoundly dangerous.
— Brene Brown
Men walk this tightrope where any sign of weakness illicits shame, and so they’re afraid to make themselves vulnerable for fear of looking weak.
— Brene Brown
I’m just going to say it: I’m pro-guilt. Guilt is good. Guilt helps us stay on track because it’s about our behavior. It occurs when we compare something we’ve done – or failed to do – with our personal values.
— Brene Brown
To me, constructive criticism is when people take ownership of their ideas. That’s why I don’t listen to anything that’s anonymous. But it’s hard; when there’s something hurtful out there, I still want to read it over and over and memorize it and explain my point of view to the person.
— Brene Brown
Waking up every day and loving someone who may or may not love us back, whose safety we can’t ensure, who may stay in our lives or may leave without a moment’s notice, who may be loyal to the day they die or betray us tomorrow – that’s vulnerability.
— Brene Brown
First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.
— Brene Brown
Anonymous comments? You’re not in the arena, man. If you can’t say it to me in person in front of my kids, don’t say it.
— Brene Brown
When the people we love stop paying attention, trust begins to slip away and hurt starts seeping in.
— Brene Brown
If you think dealing with issues like worthiness and authenticity and vulnerability are not worthwhile because there are more pressing issues, like the bottom line or attendance or standardized test scores, you are sadly, sadly mistaken. It underpins everything.
— Brene Brown
In my research, I’ve interviewed a lot of people who never fit in, who are what you might call ‘different’: scientists, artists, thinkers. And if you drop down deep into their work and who they are, there is a tremendous amount of self-acceptance.
— Brene Brown
Our need for certainty in an endeavor as uncertain as raising children makes explicit ‘how-to-parent’ strategies both seductive and dangerous.
— Brene Brown
I can encourage my daughter to love her body, but what really matters are the observations she makes about my relationship with my own body.
— Brene Brown
We use work to numb out. We can’t turn off our machines because we’re afraid we’re going to miss something.
— Brene Brown
Vulnerability is basically uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.
— Brene Brown
The moment someone asks you to do something you don’t have the time or inclination to do is fraught with vulnerability.
— Brene Brown
I love to take, process and share photos – it fills me up.
— Brene Brown
Vulnerability is basically uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.
— Brene Brown
As a shame researcher, I know that the very best thing to do in the midst of a shame attack is totally counterintuitive: Practice courage and reach out!
— Brene Brown
I hesitate to use a pathologizing label, but underneath the so-called narcissistic personality is definitely shame and the paralyzing fear of being ordinary.
— Brene Brown
Normally, when someone we love is turning away from a struggle, we self-protect by also turning away. That’s definitely my first response. I think change is more likely to happen if both partners have common language and a shared lens to see problems.
— Brene Brown
One of the things I did when I discovered this huge importance of being vulnerable is very happily moved away from the shame research, because that’s such a downer, and people hate that topic. It’s not that vulnerability is the upside, but it’s better than shame, I guess.
— Brene Brown
My husband’s a pediatrician, so he and I talk about parenting all the time. You can’t raise children who have more shame resilience than you do.
— Brene Brown
I was raised in a family where vulnerability was barely tolerated: no training wheels on our bicycles, no goggles in the pool, just get it done. And so I grew up not only with discomfort about my own vulnerability, I didn’t care for it in other people either.
— Brene Brown
The moment someone asks you to do something you don’t have the time or inclination to do is fraught with vulnerability.
— Brene Brown
I think if you follow anyone home, whether they live in Houston or London, and you sit at their dinner table and talk to them about their mother who has cancer or their child who is struggling in school, and their fears about watching their lives go by, I think we’re all the same.
— Brene Brown
