Gladys Taber Quotes

The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, hurt, pain. We risk being acted upon by forces outside our control.

When we make ourselves vulnerable, we do open ourselves to pain, sometimes excruciating pain. The more people we love, the more we are liable to be hurt, and not only by the people we love, but for the people we love.

If you love, you will suffer. The only way to protect yourself against suffering is to protect yourself against love - and that is the greatest suffering of all, loneliness.

If we want the advantages of love, then we must be willing to take the risks of love. And that requires vulnerability. Of course, we can refuse this path and trod another one devoid of openness. But the toll on such a road is extremely high.

You can't shut off the risk and the pain without losing the love that remains.

You cannot experience the fullness of your authentic self or life when you live to avoid hurt. You will never know the joy of love or the peaceful satisfaction of being loved if you hide from hurt.

Vulnerability is not about fear and grief and disappointment; it is the birthplace of everything we're hungry for.

Love without risk is an impossibility, like war without death.

We can't protect ourselves from pain and heartache. In fact, to love - fully, madly, deeply - is the ensure heartache some day.

He who would love much has also much to suffer.

It's still two human beings trying to get along, so it's going to be complicated. And love is always complicated. But humans must try to love each other, darling. We must get our hearts broken sometimes. This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.

There is no intensity of love or feeling that does not involve the risk of crippling hurt. It is a duty to take this risk, to love and feel without defense or reserve.

You were given the power to love in order to use it, no matter what pain it may cause you.

It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.

I'd rather bleed with cuts of love than live without any scars.

Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.

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.

People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that's bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they're afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it.

Hearts were made for being broken. There's really no way around it if you want to be a human being.

When you protect yourself from pain, be sure you do not protect yourself from love.

You risk tears if you let yourself be tamed.

Love had always issued out of the places that hurt the most.

Love is unknown. To open the heart in trust is unknown. They say love hurts. It doesn't have to.

To give and receive love, you have to be in touch with pain, you have to be capable of provoking it and feeling it.

You've got to be strong enough for love. It's very easy to be cool and cynical. It's very difficult to just let yourself go and be in love. You've got to be strong enough for that.