When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. This is why we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice.
Bren BrownRead
What we know matters but who we are matters more.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our identity and character are more important than our knowledge and skills.
This quote emphasizes the significance of personal virtues and character in shaping who we are, suggesting that while knowledge is important, it is our essence and values that define our impact on the world and our relationships with others. BrenΓ© Brown highlights that authenticity, connection, and empathy are what truly matter in the broader scope of life.
Themes
IdentityCharacterAuthenticityKnowledgeValues
In practice
Example use cases
During a leadership seminar, you might say this quote to emphasize the importance of character over mere professional competence.
More from Bren Brown
All quotes βPerfectionism is a twenty-ton shield that we lug around thinking it will protect us when, in fact, it's the thing that's really preventing us from taking flight.
Bren BrownRead
Social media has given us this idea that we should all have a posse of friends when in reality, if we have one or two really good friends, we are lucky.
Bren BrownRead
Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are.
Bren BrownRead
Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.
Bren BrownRead
Nostalgia is also a dangerous form of comparison. Think about how often we compare our lives to a memory that nostalgia has so completely edited that it never really existed.
Bren BrownRead
Similar quotes
It is poor rule that won't work more ways than one.
Susan B. AnthonyRead
You remember that my great vision came to me when I was only nine years old, and you have seen that I was not much good for anything until after I had performed the horse dance near the mouth of the Tongue River during my eighteenth summer.
Black ElkRead
Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it. It points us to freedom, confidence, and peace. Rather than interrupting the celebration, the gift of repentance is the cause for true celebration.
D. Todd ChristoffersonRead
And as I've gotten older, I've had more of a tendency to look for people who live by kindness, tolerance, compassion, a gentler way of looking at things.
Martin ScorseseRead
Avoid banquets which are given by strangers an ignorant persons. But if there is ever occasion to join them, let your attention be carefully fixed, that you slip not into the manner of the vulgar (the uninstructed).
EpictetusRead
What do years have to do with age?
Leo BuscagliaRead