As women, we get the message about how to be a good girl - how to be a good, pretty girl - from such an early age. Then, at the same time, we're told that well-behaved girls won't change the world or ever make a splash.
Phoebe Waller-BridgeRead
If you hear somebody say something absolutely horrendous about their own life, in quite a flippant, offbeat kind of way, when you meet people clearly trying to be strong and brave, the ones who are really good at it are the ones who break my heart the most.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the contrast between casual self-deprecation and genuine vulnerability, revealing the depth of human emotions.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge reflects on how the casual manner in which people might speak about their struggles can mask a deeper pain. She emphasizes that those who present themselves as strong and brave, often while hiding their true feelings, evoke the most compassion and sorrow. The nuance of their resilience juxtaposed with their hidden struggles resonates profoundly, making them appear more relatable and heart-wrenching.
Themes
VulnerabilityStrengthPainEmotionsResilience
In practice
Example use cases
In a mental health awareness event, to encourage openness about emotions.
More from Phoebe Waller-Bridge
All quotes βYou don't often see a cross section of female characters interacting with each other at the top of a chain.
Phoebe Waller-BridgeRead
I think, a lot of time, I'm just writing my worst fears, of the idea of losing my mom or my best friend or doing something so terrible to somebody that's kind of deemed unforgivable or having a really broken family.
Phoebe Waller-BridgeRead
You're allowed to bore your friends and family, but to bore your audience is unforgivable.
Phoebe Waller-BridgeRead
When an audience is laughing with a character, they make themselves so vulnerable, and they open up. They expose their heart the moment they're laughing, because they're relaxed and they're disarmed.
Phoebe Waller-BridgeRead
I feel liberated being around women who are liberated.
Phoebe Waller-BridgeRead
Similar quotes
In communities of color, such as Ferguson, it often feels like the police are protecting the white community from us instead of protecting our communities from the criminal element.
W. Kamau BellRead
I used to think I sewed us together at the edges with my own hands, pulled the stitches tight and I could unpick them any time I wanted. Now I think it always ran deeper than that and farther, underground; out of sight and way beyond my control.
Tana FrenchRead
If a man does not die of a wound, then it heals in some fashion, and so it is with loss. From the sharp pain of immediate berevement, both the Prince and I passed into the gray days of numb bewilderment and waiting. So grief has always seemed to me, a time of waiting not for the hurt to pass, but to become accustomed to it.
Robin HobbRead
A man makes you feel important - makes you glad you are a woman.
Marilyn MonroeRead
Men They hail you as their morning star Because you are the way you are. If you return the sentiment, They'll try to make you different; And once they have you, safe and sound, They want to change you all around. Your moods and ways they put a curse on; They'd make of you another person. They cannot let you go your gait; They influence and educate. They'd alter all that they admired. They make me sick, they make me tired.
Dorothy ParkerRead
I have now been married to my third husband for more than 20 years. But when you've had children with someone you're divorced from, divorce defines everything; it's the lurking fact, a slice of anger in the pie of your brain.
Nora EphronRead