Phyllis McGinley Quotes

Just let yourself be broken and humiliated. Just your whole life, keep telling people, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I have never forgiven myself…that I might have made a mistake.

When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate but yourself.

Guilt: punishing yourself before God doesn't.

I don't want to forgive myself. That's why I hate psychoanalysis I think if you're guilty of something you should live with it. Get rid of it - how can you get rid of a real guilt? I think people should live with it, face up to it.

That heart alone is hard which does not shudder at itself for not feeling its hardness.

I don't think I can be too hard on myself.

I have a lot of self-hatred and a lot of self-anger and a lot of things that I need to let go of.

I do have a little bit of trouble with candor around the things that I used to do. I think it's probably just resultant of shame and embarrassment and not wanting to be defined by the life that I used to live.

It is rather hard and certainly depressing to admit guilt and to repent

I hurt so many people.

Be ashamed when you sin, not when you repent.

Don't confuse your grief with guilt.

Even if your heart is broken and attacking you, you're still not better off without it.

Since Love has made ruins of my heart The sun must come and illumine them. Such generosity has broken me with shame.

I know it. I know I shall make beastly mistakes, Father-" "The world does not forgive mistakes so quickly, my girl." He sounds bitter and sad. "If the world will not forgive me," I say softly, "I shall have to learn to forgive myself." He nods in understanding. "And how will you marry? Or do you intend to marry?" I think of Kartik, and tears threaten. "I shall meet someone one day, as Mother found you.

How many times, over how many years, had he—a grown man—asked for the mercy of another chance? He was suddenly so sick of himself, so revolted, that he could have groaned aloud.

Guilt: I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Shame: I'm sorry. I am a mistake.

We’ve all done stuff we aren’t proud of. If you knew…” He shook his head. “The point is, I don’t know why you did this. I just hope that whatever the reason was, it’s something that you’ve come to terms with. I don’t think any less of you because of it. I never did.

Your own regrets may not be as ugly as you think they are.

Shame must be accepted to be effective.

I'm sorry for being me. I won't ever do it again.

Shame is the shadow of love.

A lot of me figuring out how to love myself more involves finding the things that I'm ashamed of and looking them right in the eye.

No one starts as a self-hater. But rack up all of your mistakes and take a large enough number of wrong turns in life and soon you stop trying to forgive yourself. Everywhere you look you find shame or failure staring back.