37 Quotes On Overcoming Shame

Shame is a powerful emotion that can hold us back from living our fullest lives, creating barriers in our personal and professional relationships, and diminishing our self-worth. Yet, it is an experience that many of us face at some point in our lives. Overcoming shame is essential for personal growth, healing, and reclaiming our true selves. In our quest for empowerment and resilience, we have curated a list of the top 37 quotes on overcoming shame, each offering unique insights and wisdom to inspire you on your journey. Whether you're looking for solace, strength, or a new perspective, these quotes are here to remind you that you are not alone, and that the path to overcoming shame is both possible and transformative.

1. “You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame. Yeah, see, they die of shame. 'What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?' And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives. Thinking.” - David Mamet

2. “We need never be ashamed of our tears.” - Charles Dickens

3. “Shame has poor memory.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

4. “Look: the trees exist; the houseswe dwell in stand there stalwartly. Only wepass by it all, like a rush of air.And everything conspires to keep quiet about us,half out of shame perhaps, half out of some secret hope.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

5. “When we sat down on the couch again, you curled up against my side, like you used to when you were a toddler. What I wanted to say to you, but didn't, was this: Don't use me as your model. I'm the last person you should look up to.” - Jodi Picoult

6. “Millions cheer the warriorspilling blood across the ringwhile the one who stands for peaceis ridiculed and shamed.Must hearts forever sufferfrom ignorance and greed?Can bombs heal our soulsor set our spirits free?” - Aberjhani

7. “Once they know they've got a hold of your shame, they can shake it out and hold it up for the all world to see. And you become less than it. You become something disgusting.” - Kirsty Eagar

8. “Shame isn't a quiet grey cloud, shame is a drowning man who claws his way on top of you, scratching and tearing your skin, pushing you under the surface.” - Kirsty Eagar

9. “Shame was an emotion he had abandoned years earlier. Addicts know no shame. You disgrace yourself so many times you become immune to it.” - John Grisham

10. “Do I have YOUR permission to be a Supernatural God? If I want to open heaven, and in a moment in time, touch the heart of a daughter and supernaturally break all the darkness, shame, and torment in her life, MAY I DO THAT?” - Jim Anderson

11. “The terror of being judged sharpens the memory: it sends an inevitable glare over that long-unvisited past which has been habitually recalled only in general phrases. Even without memory, the life is bound into one by a zone of dependence in growth and decay; but intense memory forces a man to own his blameworthy past. With memory set smarting like a reopened wound, a man’s past is not simply a dead history, an outworn preparation of the present: it is not a repented error shaken loose from the life: it is a still quivering part of himself, bringing shudders and bitter flavors and the tinglings of a merited shame.” - George Eliot

12. “I felt ashamed.""But of what? Psyche, they hadn't stripped you naked or anything?""No, no, Maia. Ashamed of looking like a mortal -- of being a mortal.""But how could you help that?""Don't you think the things people are most ashamed of are things they can't help?” - C.S. Lewis

13. “Make not, when you work a deed of shame, The scoundrel's plea, 'My forbears did the same.” - Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri

14. “yet if you had a desire for good or beautiful thingsand your tongue were not concocting some evil to sayshame would not hold down your eyesbut rather you would speak about what is just” - Sappho

15. “This in essence is my goal. To set an example by doing what is good. If I live openly and honestly, I set an example of virtue, humanness, restoration, and healing. I give others permission to join me on my journey despite the fear of failure or the rejection it might elicit when they know they are not alone in their experience. The more of us who amass the courage to embark openly on this path, the more normal this experience becomes, effectively eliminating the tactic of shame and isolation that the enemy so often uses to cause us to falter.” - Riisa Renee

16. “We do not have to be ashamed of what we are. As sentient beings we have wonderful backgrounds. These backgrounds may not be particularly enlightened or peaceful or intelligent. Nevertheless, we have soil good enough to cultivate; we can plant anything in it.” - CHOGYAM TRUNGPA

17. “I will put up with any mockery rather than pretend that I am satisfied when I am hungry.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

18. “Posing the question: does the god of love use underarm deodorant, vaginal spray and fluoride toothpaste?” - Harlan Ellison

19. “They did not submit to the obvious alternative, which was simply to close the eyes and fall. So easy, really. Go limp and tumble to the ground and let the muscles unwind and not speak and not budge until your buddies picked you up and lifted you into the chopper that would roar and dip its nose and carry you off to the world. A mere matter of falling, yet no one ever fell. It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.” - Tim O'Brien

20. “[A]s though mindful of the wife of Lot, who looked back from behind him, thou deliveredst me first to the sacred garments and monastic profession before thou gavest thyself to God. And for that in this one thing thou shouldst have had little trust in me I vehemently grieved and was ashamed. For I (God [knows]) would without hesitation precede or follow thee to the Vulcanian fires according to thy word. For not with me was my heart, but with thee. But now, more than ever, if it be not with thee, it is nowhere. For without thee it cannot anywhere exist.” - Héloïse

21. “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 minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.” - Brené Brown

22. “Why, Andrew, why would it irritate me? Do you think that being loved by you is something to be ashamed of? I don't.” - Andrew Ashling

23. “Among the problems with shame was that it in fact did not make you shorter or quieter or less visible. You just felt like you were.” - J.R. Ward

24. “Why are you drinking? demanded the little prince."So that I may forget," replied the tippler."Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who was already sorry for him."Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head."Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him."Ashamed of drinking!” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

25. “I do not say that children at war do not die like men, if they have to die. To their everlasting honor and our everlasting shame, they do die like men, thus making possible the manly jubilation of patriotic holidays. But they are murdered children all the same.” - Kurt Vonnegut

26. “But sometimes shame is a more powerful engine than rage. Like rage, it burns hot; and like rage it tends to consume its own furnace.” - Jonathan Maberry

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

28. “If you want to make a difference, the next time you see someone being cruel to another human being, take it personally. Take it personally because it is personal!” - Brené Brown

29. “Children who are victimized through sexual abuse often begin to develop deeply held tenets that shape their sense of self: 'My worth is my sexuality. I'm dirty and shameful. I have no right to my own physical boundaries.' That shapes their ideas about the world around them: 'No one will believe me. Telling the truth results in bad consequences. People can't be trusted.' It doesn't take long for children to being to act in accordance with these belief systems.For girls who have experienced incest, sexual abuse, or rape, the boundaries between love, sex, and pain become blurred. Secrets are normal, and shame is a constant.” - Rachel Lloyd

30. “If people try to judge you or shame you for doing safe, consensual things that make you happy, I can guarantee you they're bad people.” - Tucker Max

31. “The mistake ninety-nine percent of humanity made, as far as Fats could see, was being ashamed of what they were; lying about it, trying to be somebody else.” - J.K. Rowling

32. “I was still searching for someone to blame for my suffering. I really wanted someone to transfer my hate to, so that I could stop hating myself.” - Glenn Beck

33. “We are all ashamed in one way or another. Who among us is not stained by the past?” - Jenna Blum

34. “Do not be ashamed of help.” - Marcus Aurelius

35. “J_Doe032692 wrote: I am not a thin person. However this does not give people the right to taunt me, calling me ugly and worthless, telling me to kill myself because no one will ever want me, or to make up songs about why I am so fat and how much food I eat. NO ONE, I repeat, NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO HURT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING THIS BADLY.My throat constricts. The neck brace feels as if it's shrinking and cutting off my esophagus. I reach up and cover the words with my hand and the web site dissolves.I want to go. Now.” - Julie Anne Peters

36. “No one tape her deepest gifts through shame, guilt or anger. In fact, if you come from obligation, others smell the sadness in your blood and they will run the other way,” - Tama Kieves

37. “One must live with all, e'en if life be hell: Crime makes shame, not monetary stricture” - Multatuli