Brooke Johnson

“love that doesn’t include honesty doesn’t deserve to be called love.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

“We’ve spent our lives prioritizing ourselves, our wants, and our happiness, and, guess what. We’re still not happy. So how in the world could it be that self-love is the answer to our problems when there’s no evidence whatsoever that we’ve ever stopped loving ourselves?”
― Allie Beth Stuckey, You're Not Enough (and That's Ok): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love

“As Winnicott put it, “A baby cannot hate the mother, without the mother first hating the baby.” As babies, we are innocent sponges, blank slates, with only the most basic needs present: to eat, shit, love, and be loved. But something goes wrong, depending on the circumstances into which we are born, and the house in which we grow up. A tormented, abused child can never take revenge in reality, as she is powerless and defenseless, but she can—and must—harbor vengeful fantasies in her imagination. Rage, like fear, is reactive.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

“Most of us have been the centers of our own universe for as long as we can remember. Our most prized possessions all have the letter i in front of their names. We’re the generations of “about me” sections, personal profiles, and selfies. We are well acquainted with instant gratification, and we’ve come to expect the ability to personalize our experiences. We are keenly focused on ourselves and our needs. We spend hours studying our signs and personality types in an effort to gain the self-understanding we hope will bring us guidance and inner peace.”
― Allie Beth Stuckey, You're Not Enough (and That's Ok): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love