Atlas of the Heart Quotes

“Language is our portal to meaning-making, connection, healing, learning, and self-awareness.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“We are good stewards of the stories we hear by listening, being curious, affirming, and believing people when they tell us how they experienced something.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“Narcissism is shame-based. In fact, I define narcissism as the shame-based fear of being ordinary.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“we need to disagree less, but we need to learn how to disagree better—without contempt or cruelty. It’s”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“Any belonging that asks us to betray ourselves is not true belonging.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“Healthy striving is self-focused—How can I improve? Perfectionism is other-focused—What will they think?”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“the “action” part of compassion wasn’t making things better or fixing,”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“inserting”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded…sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“If you’re not asking for what’s important to you, maybe it’s because you don’t think you are worth it.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“It’s dangerous to put your self-worth in other people’s hands.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“Am I fearful of losing something I value to another person, or do I want something someone else has? If”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“There is no courage without vulnerability. Courage requires the willingness to lean into uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“It’s all unfolding faster than my nervous system and psyche can manage it.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“it’s been healing and powerful to be a part of a family that now has the language and skill to align the love we feel with the way we actually show up with each other.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“I come from a very tough, suck-it-up-get-it-done-and-don’t-talk-about-feelings family. Both of my parents had a hard upbringing with a lot of trauma, and despite their own unhappiness, they considered the life they gave us the height of mythical suburban bliss.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“Language shows us that naming an experience doesn’t give the experience more power, it gives us the power of understanding and meaning.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

“but I did have top-level observation powers. I understood that people would do almost anything to not feel pain, including causing pain and abusing power, and I understood that there were very few people who could handle being held accountable for causing hurt without rationalizing, blaming, or shutting down. What surprised me the most when I was growing up was how little other people seemed to understand or even think about the connection between feelings, thinking, and behavior.”
― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience