“We cannot grow when we are in shame, and we can't use shame to change ourselves or others.”

—  Brené Brown

Source: I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We cannot grow when we are in shame, and we can't use shame to change ourselves or others." by Brené Brown?
Brené Brown photo
Brené Brown 101
US writer and professor 1965

Related quotes

Brené Brown photo

“Shame hates it when we reach out and tell our story. It hates having words wrapped around it- it can't survive being shared. Shame loves secrecy. When we bury our story, the shame metastasizes.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Brené Brown photo

“Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame

Teal Swan photo

“With this horrendous murder of the Jews we have lost the war. We have brought an indelible shame upon ourselves, a curse that cannot be lifted. We deserve no mercy, we are all guilty together.”

Wilm Hosenfeld (1895–1952) Righteous Among the Nations

16 June 1943; attributed by Richard J. Evans in " Why Did Stauffenberg Plant the Bomb? http://www.signandsight.com/features/1824.html", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23 January 2009.

Teresa of Ávila photo

“It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint

First Mansions, Ch. 1, as translated by E. Allison Peers (1961) p. 18
Interior Castle (1577)
Context: It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are. Would it not be a sign of great ignorance, my daughters, if a person were asked who he was, and could not say, and had no idea who his father or mother was, or from what country he came? Though that is a great stupidity, our own is incomparably greater if we make no attempt to discover what we are, and only know that we are living in these bodies and have a vague idea, because we have heard it, and because our faith tells us so, that we possess souls. As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or who dwells within them, or how precious they are — those are things which seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul's beauty. All our interest is centred in the rough setting of the diamond and in the outer wall of the castle – that is to say in these bodies of ours.

Brené Brown photo
Teal Swan photo
Brené Brown photo

“Shame works like the zoom lens on a camera. When we are feeling shame, the camera is zoomed in tight and all we see is our flawed selves, alone and struggling.(page 68)”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Brené Brown photo

“If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can't survive.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Related topics