“When I think about all the time I wasted feeling guilty and ashamed about things I should have embraced long ago, it fills me with guilt and shame.”

“never feel guilty about anything shame and guilt are a waste of time just do what you do-- and deal with it”

“Guilt is also a way for us to express to others that we are a person of good conscience. 'I feel really guilty about getting drunk last night,' we say, when in actual fact we feel no guilt whatsoever or, at least, we could choose to feel no guilt. When people say to me, 'I drank too much last night,' I always reply, 'I drank exactly the right amount.”

“As for myself, the part of me that still believes that I was given up because there was something wrong with me will diminish with the passage of time. But I feel sad when I think about all those years of not really knowing the truth. Would it have made me feel better about myself if I had known my story? Or would it still have taken me this long to understand what it all meant?”

“I’m so ashamed.” Livia felt blood filling her mouth again.Chris pointed a shaky finger at her. “You should be ashamed. It’s about time.”“I’m ashamed of you, Chris,” Livia said fiercely. “I’m ashamed I ever let you touch me. I should have saved myself for Blake.” She topped off her statement by heaving bloody spit into Chris’s face.”

“This was not guilt: guilt is what you feel when you have done something wrong. What I felt was shame: I was what was wrong.”