“Abuse and neglect negate love. Care and affirmation, the opposite of abuse and humiliation, are the foundation of love. No one can rightfully claim to be loving when behaving abusively.”

“To love the carnal self means to love the body-mind. I cannot abuse my body with alcohol, stress, and self-indulgence and still claim to love my self.”

Sam Keen (1931) author, professor, and philosopher

“Through the machineries of greed, pettiness, and the abuse of power, love occurs.”

Thomas Pynchon book Gravity's Rainbow

“We teach boys to associate being abused with being loved.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

“Abuse of words, foundation of ideology.”

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist and essayist

“Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.”

Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Marxist revolutionary from Russia

“We can decrease abuse and murder when we get that for both sexes, abuse does not derive from power, but powerlessness.”

Warren Farrell book The Myth of Male Power

“On oilrigs men who only work an 8-hour day are contemptuously called nine-to-fivers. In stark contrast, women are more likely not to take risks, even when the risks are minimal. What's the message to our sons? Our praise of our sons when they risk physical danger teaches them that a willingness to be physically abused creates love. Abuse-as-love? Yes.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

“Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. book Why We Can't Wait

“As to abuse, I thrive on it. Abuse, hearty abuse, is a tonic to all save men of indifferent health.”

Norman Douglas (1868–1952) British writer