Jeannette Walls Quotes

Don't let your wounds make you become someone you're not.

I've been through some very difficult stages in my life, but I wouldn't change anything.

Difficulty creates the opportunity for self-reflection and compassion.

I get why we don't want to be in pain, but there's something very essential about what happens when we're in pain and some of the growth that can come from it if we stare at it straight in the face.

My mother used to talk about passages and, once in a while, about ordeals. We all have them; we are all shaped by them. She thought the key was to find the healing in the hurt.

By being vulnerable, either with yourself or in the presence of another person, that’s where all growth and ultimate well-being comes from.

It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars.

I'm trying to make myself better. But I don't regret anything that I've gone through, because it makes me who I am.

When you overcome a profound loss, or there's some catalyst in your life that shifts everything, if you're able to take it in stride and heal, it can make for much more three-dimensional and empathetic people.

I never said I wanted a 'happy' life but an interesting one. From separation and loss, I have learned a lot. I have become strong and resilient, as is the case of almost every human being exposed to life and to the world. We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.

By the time you're 30, you know who you are inside. You learn to laugh at things you can't change; you learn to be yourself.

I refuse to let what happened to me make me bitter.

I'm a person that carries everything that happened to me in my past, with me into the future. I refuse to let it make me bitter. I still completely believe in love and I remain open to anything that will happen to me.

Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices.

As years passed away I have formed the habit of looking back upon that former self as upon another person, the remembrance of whose emotions has been a solace in adversity and added zest to the enjoyment of prosperity.

I'm not cynical or bitter in any way. Life's too short; you get ripped off, but if you hold a grudge, it's going to affect you. You take it on the chin, you learn, you try not to make the same mistakes.

I'm an incredibly lucky girl. For someone who has made some very foolish mistakes and had some tough lessons to learn very quickly, I am still incredibly lucky.

I've had to deal with my tragedies, and how you cope with them is what life's all about. You can choose to let them consume you or choose not to.

Turn your wounds into wisdom.

I can't change the past. It made me what I am.

I am a big believer in life in this fact: Scars are a very beautiful thing.

I'm very very happy for my hardships and misfortunes: they build character and make you a better person. Even if I think it's something you have to carry with you, it's definitely something that makes you more empathic towards other people, makes you understand people and relationships so much better.

Bollywood has taught me a lot of lessons. Sometimes it has been very hard, but every struggle and obstacle that I overcame made me stronger and made me more aware.

I don't fear pain or failure anymore because I'm too grateful for the pains and failures of my past - they have made me who I am, and most of the good things in my life are a direct result of them in some way.

Adversity teaches a man a lot about himself.