Henri Nouwen Quotes

I don't have any fear of intimacy, but rather thrive on it, which is rare in a public person.

It's a great big step for me to open my heart up even a little bit.

Everybody has a bit of body armor they wear to protect themselves, and love is about trying to break it down. You have to see who a person really is and connect with her to break that armor.

Vulnerability is the essence of romance. It's the art of being uncalculated, the willingness to look foolish, the courage to say, 'This is me, and I'm interested in you enough to show you my flaws with the hope that you may embrace me for all that I am but, more important, all that I am not.'

I don't have a problem showing vulnerability.

With everything, especially romantic relationships, you have to protect your heart. That doesn't mean you can't show up and be able to give this person a piece of you and be open to being yourself.

Being vulnerable is the hardest thing for so many people, including myself, but it's also the most satisfying thing.

Loving's pretty easy. It's letting someone love you that's hard.

Trust, love, what we call sexy, who we trust in a business situation, are all based on how open we are. Openness is bodily openness, muscular relaxation, heart openness as opposed to hiding behind some emotional wall, and spiritual openness, which is actually feeling so fully into the moment that there's no separation between you and the entire moment.

You can't find intimacy - you can't find home - when you're always hiding behind masks. Intimacy requires a certain level of vulnerability. It requires a certain level of you exposing your fragmented, contradictory self to someone else. You running the risk of having your core self rejected and hurt and misunderstood.

Give me your skin as sheer as a cobweb, let me open it up and listen in and scoop out the dark.

Mind who you love. For that matter, mind how you are loved.

We have probably wondered in our many lonesome moments if there is one corner in this competitive, demanding world where it is safe to be relaxed, to expose ourselves to someone else, and to give unconditionally. It might be very small and hidden, but if this corner exists, it calls for a search through the complexities of our human relationships in order to find it.

You know what's the most terrifying thing about admitting that you're in love? You're just naked. You put yourself in harm's way and you lay down all your defences. No clothes, no weapons. Nowhere to hide, completely vulnerable. The only thing that makes it tolerable is to believe the other person loves you back and you can trust him not to hurt you.

Friendship and love are impossible without a mutual vulnerability.

To love is to be vulnerable.

The more I try to impress people, the more I separate myself from them. Vulnerability attracts love.

Revealing yourself, physically or emotionally, to cast and crew is frequently uncomfortable. But it is essential if you want to to tell the truth. I felt more at ease being bold with some than I did with others. I was incredibly fortunate to have worked with Randy Harrison as Justin Taylor. We share enough taste in music and art to have had a real camaraderie, and luckily that evolved into a deep friendship.

Along with the good qualities, if someone isn't vulnerable I can't be around them to a certain extent. And I don't mean vulnerable to me or vulnerable to me in a sexual way. I just mean vulnerable, period.

This is intimacy: the trading of stories in the dark.

And maybe that was love. Being so vulnerable and allowing someone else in so far they could hurt you, but they also give you everything.

The film [Dream of Life] doesn't hide anything, except maybe moments of sorrow or darkness that belonged to me.

I've been naked physically in movies - but it's a whole other thing to be naked emotionally in a way that's not just a distraction or a character.

True love will not brook reserve; it feels undervalued and outraged, when even the sorrows of those it loves are concealed from it.

Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries.