Being vulnerable doesn’t mean you are weak. These Brené Brown quotes on vulnerability will inspire you to live wholeheartedly.
We live in a culture where vulnerability is considered to be something bad and intolerable.
We strive to be stronger, better, richer, thinner. It seems like if there’s one day we are not improving in some way, that day is wasted.
I myself align the word “vulnerability” along with weakness, failure, and a bunch of other words that I absolutely hate…until I bumped into the famous Ted Talk Brené Brown gave 7 years ago.
It blew me away and changed what I think of vulnerability. So I dig a little deeper into her books about vulnerability, courage, and strength.
Here is a list of Brené Brown quotes on vulnerability that I found particularly insightful. I hope these inspirational quotes are helpful for you as well.
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Brené Brown Quotes On Vulnerability
When you shut down vulnerability, you shut down opportunity.
– Brené Brown
If we shield ourselves from all feedback, we stop growing.
– Brené Brown
We must take off the armor, put down the weapons, show up, and let ourselves be seen.
– Brené Brown, Dare to Lead
Belonging to ourselves means being called to stand alone – to brave the wilderness of uncertainty, vulnerability, and criticism.
– Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
It’s much easier to say “I don’t give a damn” than it is to say, “I’m hurt“.
– Brené Brown, Rising Strong
Trading joy for less vulnerability is a deal with the devil. And the devil never pays up.
– Brené Brown, Rising Strong
By definition, entrepreneurship is vulnerable. It’s all about the ability to handle and manage uncertainty.
– Brené Brown
Nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as believing that I’m standing on the outside of my life looking in and wondering what it would be like if I had the courage to show up and let myself be seen.
– Brené Brown
But vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our most accurate measure of courage.
– Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness
Experiencing vulnerability isn’t a choice—the only choice we have is how we’re going to respond when we are confronted with uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
We can be our worst selves when we’re afraid, or our best, bravest selves.
– Brené Brown
Vulnerability—the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome.
– Brené Brown, Rising Strong
Waking up every day and loving someone who may or may not love us back, whose safety we can’t ensure, who may stay in our lives or may leave without a moment’s notice, who may be loyal to the day they die or betray us tomorrow- that’s vulnerability.
– Brené Brown
Read also: 24 Inspirational quotes that prove vulnerability is not weakness
We cannot selectively numb emotions. When we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.
– Brené Brown
What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? I pushed that question out of my head to make room for a new question: What’s worth doing even if I fail?
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.
– Brené Brown, Rising Strong
Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome.
– Brené Brown
It’s easy to get to that place where we only do things that we’re already good at doing. I love that place. But it’s not good for me.
– Brené Brown
I’m learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude, and grace.
– Brené Brown
If you’ve created a work culture where vulnerability isn’t okay, you’ve also created a culture where innovation and creativity aren’t okay.
– Brené Brown
We think to ourselves: I’m not going to allow myself to feel this joy because I know it won’t last.
– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Life-paralysis is also all of the dreams that we don’t follow because of our deep fear of failing, making mistakes, and disappointing others.
– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Strong back. Soft front. Wild heart.
– Brené Brown
We don’t have to be perfect, just engaged and committed to aligning values with action.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Here’s what is truly at the heart of Wholeheartedness:
Worthy now.
Not if.
Not when.
We are worthy of love and belonging now.
Right this minute.
As is.
– Brené Brown
Until we can tolerate vulnerability and transform it into gratitude, intense feelings of love will often bring up the fear of loss.
– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Gasping for air while volunteering to give others CPR is not heroic. It’s suffocation by resentment.
– Brené Brown
Much of the beauty of light owes its existence to the dark.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. It’s going to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging.
– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Pain will subside only when we acknowledge it and care for it.
– Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness
Numb the dark and you numb the light.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
All of us fight hidden, silent battles against not being good enough, not having enough, and not belonging enough.
– Brené Brown
Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Only when we’re brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy.
– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
When we deny our emotion, it owns us.
– Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness
Self-kindness: Being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating ourselves with self-criticism.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
My shield required that I stay small and quiet behind it so as not to draw attention to my imperfections and vulnerabilities. It was exhausting.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Sometimes our first and greatest dare is asking for support.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.
– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
The authenticity paradox: vulnerability is the last thing I want you to see in me and the first thing I look for in you.
– Brené Brown
Maybe we lost our job or screwed up a project, but what makes that story so painful is what we tell ourselves about our own self-worth and value.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
The imperfect book that gets published is better than the perfect book that never leaves my computer.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Daring is not saying I’m willing to risk failure. Daring is saying I know I will eventually fail, and I’m still all in.
– Brené Brown, Dare to Lead
That deep fear we all have of being wrong, of being belittled and of feeling less than, is what stops us taking the very risks required to move our companies forward.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable.
– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Read also: How to set healthy personal boundaries step by step
I’m just so grateful, because to feel this vulnerable means I’m alive.
Brené Brown
We love seeing raw truth and openness in other people, but we’re afraid to let them see it in us.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
What we know matters but who we are matters more.
– Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.
– Brené Brown, Rising Strong
Which of these Brené Brown quotes resonates with you?
Leave a comment and tell us what you think!