Any Man Quotes

“It is not easy to be brave. This world discourages authenticity from infancy. It is not easy to do what you just did. It is not easy to just . . . speak. Or even to wait to speak, for that matter.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I cast out the crime of me; my casualty. Silence, you must leave. Sadness, go. Surrender, shame. Cruelty, quiet now.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Tell me how you prove coercion? How you prove the difference between being hit on and hunted? How you prove your arms were held down? Your body was touched? Your life was threatened if you ever told anyone? For people who have suffered violent sexual crimes, proof—the very act of proving—is more than just a burden. It is boundless bearing. An eternity of futility.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“It’s you versus you.” Meaning, you’re the only thing standing in your own way.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“It’s not your fault. But healing your own pain does belong to you now.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I live in a country built on celebritizing its citizens’ grief and amplifying stories of violence and assault for political gain, click counts, or television ratings. Let me be emphatically clear: They. Don’t. Care. About. Us. People who live through sexual assault are a crash on the side of the road, and the American media is nothing more than cars slowing down just long enough to take a peek.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I’ve learned how to make a meal out of pain, how to brand my sorrow.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“We publicized it. We capitalized on it. We exploited it for ratings or whatever, for stories, with our memes and GIFs and tweeting and all that. We jump on the train. We show their pictures on live TV. We make clever hashtags. We find ways to, like, absolve ourselves from responsibility or say we’ve helped out with a retweet or something. We’ve helped because we’ve mentioned an injustice in passing to our neighbor and we both got to shake our heads.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“am in a body. It is not the one I came here with, but it is the one I’ll leave here in. I will take care of it. It belongs to me now. My pain, I will take care of it. It belongs to me now.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Yes, I am still breathing.
No, I am not living.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“The mind is the master and the body is the servant.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I do not talk.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“am in a body. It is not the one I came here with, but it is the one I’ll leave here in. I will take care of it. It belongs to me now. My pain, I will take care of it. It belongs to me now. My heart, I will take care of it. It belongs to me now. My story, I will take care of it. It belongs to me now.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Have you ever heard wolves howl in a place where wolves do not reside?”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Anger has that peculiar quality of isolation; like sorrow, it cuts one off, and for the time being, at least, all relationship comes to an end. Anger has the temporary strength and vitality of the isolated. There is a strange despair in anger; for isolation is despair.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“People who live through sexual assault are a crash on the side of the road, and the American media is nothing more than cars slowing down just long enough to take a peek.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Yeah, but shouldn’t people engage in common-sense behavior? The first victim— MELISSA:—Yeah. Like don’t rape an unconscious person?—”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“How are you doing, son?” she asks, her bangles clanging on her wrists as she drops a wrinkled paw onto my shoulder. It is the most common question I am asked, and I know everyone wants to hear only one answer. “Good,” I say.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Smile is the shape of my mouth Amanda wants to see when she comes running out of the science fair, pushing her lime-colored glasses up her nose and shrieking with good news. Smile is the shape of my mouth my therapist looks for when she asks how I’m doing. It is the shape of my mouth Camilla wants to kiss when I return from a day’s work. The shape of my mouth my neighbors and colleagues desire to set them at ease. It makes others feel safe with my story. I practice this smiling, this mouth’s shaping, in the mirror. I do it for them.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I do not say I enjoyed it, because I don’t know if that’s possible, given what happened, but if I did, she should leave me.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“And though I am estranged from the sun,
I am a brightness,
lit from within.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“How can you go on living when you’re now being lived in? When you’ve been invaded?”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I’d grow extra mouths to swallow all his confusion and sorrow.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“The movie is wonderful to watch when I’m not in it.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I was disappearing here in this world, which in some way meant I was reappearing somewhere else. I was whole somewhere else. I was free somewhere else. That thought was comforting. The parallel me had never been raped. Had never been touched. Had never been so obscenely violated. The parallel me had no restrictions. Still enjoyed sunlight. The parallel me had a future that couldn’t be darkened by his past.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I want to say to the new guys here, look, it’s okay to process your shit however you want to. It’s your shit. It’s no one else’s shit. As long as you’re not hurting someone else. Your hell is yours and you get to decide, okay? You get to decide when you’re ready. It’s important that I say this, though: It’s not your fault, whatever happened to you. It’s not your fault. But healing your own pain does belong to you now.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Dear Mr. Ellis,Today my mom made me pancakes because it is a special day because you are my favorite teacher and you are back and that makes me happy. My mom made one of the pancakes in the shape of an E for Ellis. If you ever want to talk to me about what happened and why you had to go away Mr. Ellis I will listen and I will be your friend. My best friend is Rotty my dog and he always listens to me whenever I am sad. I can be your Rotty if you need one. My mom says a bad thing was done to you by a bad person they can’t find and it was on the news. But I don’t care about the news. I only care about you. Your friend, Jimmy.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“The grief loosens its jaw from my neck but doesn’t let go.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“I watch and try not to think. Everything is a film: a fly on the windshield trying to get in, a delivery truck parked in front of whatever to deliver something I will never savor, a plane carrying flesh messages across the sky. The movie is wonderful to watch when I’m not in it.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man

“Sexual assault is the single least-reported violent crime. And when it is reported, the victims are blamed and shamed.”
― Amber Tamblyn, Any Man