Quotes on Abuse

Insightful Quotes on Abuse Issues

These abuse quotes address all types of abuse, including child sexual abuse, rape, and domestic violence as well as related abuse mental health issues such as dissociative identity disorder and self-injury. The abuse quotes provide inspiration and insight into what many victims of abuse have experienced. 

*Click the images to open a larger, shareable image.

 

"Overcoming abuse doesn't just happen, it takes positive steps every day. Let today be the day you start to move forward."

Moving forward in abuse recovery isn't easy, but you can move forward mentally and emotionally even if you're living in an abusive relationship. You can learn to stop emotional abuse and deal with verbal abuse before you even leave an abusive relationship.

 

"I was heartbroken, scared, I had a lot of anxiety, I was worried, I felt weak, and I had no idea how I was ever going to come up with the strength. But I just closed my eyes and took a blind leap. I knew I had to get out of there."

There is help for battered men and women. You can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline or your county public health office to start getting help.

 

“It hurts the most when the person that made you feel so special yesterday makes you feel so unwanted today.”

You might wonder why men and women abuse others, making them feel alternatively loved and hated. Check out these two pages for answers: "Emotionally Abusive Men and Women: Who Are They?" and "Verbally Abusive Men and Women: Why Do They Abuse?"

 

"Controllers, abusers and manipulative people don't question themselves. They don't ask themselves if the problem is them. They always say the problem is someone else."

The mind of the abuser is not like yours. It's an important distinction, and you must remember it.

 

“The only people who get upset about you setting boundaries are the ones who were benefiting from you having none.”

 

“I am so much more than you told me I was.”

The words of verbal abusers cause so much emotional pain. Nevertheless, you can heal from childhood physical abuse and any other type of abuse--with some thought and work.

 

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When people treat you like they don't care, believe them."

 

“Your abuser’s trauma does not justify them abusing you.”

Perhaps you could talk your abuser into trauma-focused therapy, but it will be difficult: by the time someone becomes abusive, they usually think there's nothing 'wrong' with them. All the problems are your fault (they think).

 

“I don’t think people realize how much strength it takes to pull your own self out of a poisonous situation with someone you love deeply. So if you’ve done that today or any day, I’m proud of you.”

If you just thought, "But I can't leave!" you aren't alone. Many women and men feel that way. However, there are ways to find your freedom. Start by visiting the National Domestic Abuse Hotline.

 

“I am slowly learning that some people are not good for me, no matter how much I love them.”

 

“Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it’s the place where we find the deepest heartache.”

Unfortunately, there are all kinds of abuses that happen to some children. These abuses can cause every mental illness from depression and anxiety, to posttraumatic stress disorder, to dissociative identity disorder. 

 

“I’m starting to remember who I was before you convinced me I was worthless.”

 

“Don’t let someone who did you wrong make you think there’s something wrong with you. Don’t devalue yourself because they didn’t value you. Know your worth even if they don’t.”

Emotional abuse truly makes you think there is something wrong with you. Learn the dynamics of emotional abuse--you may be surprised that you've been experiencing it.

 

“A healthy relationship will never require you to sacrifice your friends, your dreams, or your dignity.”

 

"When someone isn't treating you right, no matter how much you love them, you've got to love yourself more and walk away."

Sometimes you just have to get up and go, no matter what you fear will happen. If you're not ready to leave quite yet, at least put together an exit strategy.

 

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It’s better to break your own heart by leaving, rather than having that person break your heart every day you’re with them.”

 

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It's okay to be angry. It's never ok to be cruel."

Abusers obviously express anger cruelly, but we can't do anything about them. However, abuse victims can inappropriately express the anger they feel over being abused. Anger disrupts your mental health, so it is never too late to learn how to control your anger.

 

"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."

 

“Refuse to inherit dysfunction. Learn new ways of living instead of repeating what you lived through.”

Do you know about your role in your dysfunctional family? If you identify it, you can prevent yourself from continuing to act on it.

 

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If you walked away from a toxic, negative, abusive, one-sided, dead-end low vibrational relationship or friendship--you won."

 

More Quotes About Abuse, Domestic Abuse, and Child Abuse

We hope the  previous quotes with images spoke to you. Please share them as you wish. But don't stop reading these abuse quotes yet -- there are plenty more to come.

“So many people suffer from abuse, and suffer alone.”

 

“Verbal abuse is still abuse. It's abuse in the form of words. Don't assume that a few hurtful words won't cost them their life. Words hurt.”

 

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”

“It is not the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind.”
 

“From every wound there is a scar, and every scar tells a story. A story that says "I have survived" Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
 

“I grew to understand that people don’t always build walls to keep others out. There are times it is done out of necessity to protect whatever is left within.”

“Being a survivor of emotional abuse is fighting daily battles in your head with a person you no longer have contact with.”

“If you want to know what it’s like to survive hell and still come out shining brighter than the sun, just look into the eyes of a woman who has survived intense damage and refused to allow it to destroy her softness.”

“So often survivors have had their experiences denied, trivialized, or distorted. Writing is an important avenue for healing because it gives you the opportunity to define your own reality.”

“Don’t light yourself on fire trying to brighten someone else’s existence.”

 

"Never forget that walking away from something unhealthy is brave."

 

"I am learning to love the sound of my feet walking away from things not meant for me."

 

"One's dignity may be assaulted and vandalized, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered."

 

"As you recover, you will discover that many of the so-called truths you were raised with and forced to believe are not truths at all."

 

"One of the first steps in freeing yourself from a gaslighting relationship is to acknowledge how unpleasant and hurtful you find this Emotional Apocalypse."

 

"Some scars don't hurt. Some scars are numb. Some scars rid you of the capacity to feel anything ever again."

 

"It is not the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind."

 

"To deny someone feelings or experiences is to literally deny their reality."

 

"Don’t let others define you or they might pick the worst word in the dictionary.”

 

"The scars from mental cruelty can be as deep and long-lasting as wounds from punches or slaps but are often not as obvious."

 

"Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams healing can begin."

 

"The only person that deserves a special place in your life is someone that never made you feel like you were an option in theirs."

"He didn't have to hit me to leave a scar."

"Survivors of any and all abuse become very good at anticipating mood of others, looks, actions, all of it in an effort to survive. Believing that if we can be agreeable, be compliant and loving, do things how they want, that we will be safe. This becomes our way of life.”

 

"Psychological invalidation is one of the most lethal forms of emotional abuse. It kills confidence, creativity, and individuality."

 

"Losing yourself in loving another can make you forget that you're special too."

 

"Never forget that walking away from something unhealthy is brave even if you stumble a little on your way out the door."

 

"You have the right to your own ideas and opinions, to make your own decisions, and to have things go your way at times."

 

"Never let someone who contributes so little to a relationship control so much of it."

 

"Poisonous relationships can alter our perception. You can spend many years thinking you're worthless. But you're not worthless, you're unappreciated."

"Just because the scars have healed, doesn't mean that the pain has."

 

"Don't let someone who doesn't know your value tell you how much you're worth."

"If you need violence to enforce your ideas, your ideas are worthless."

 

"After a series of traumas, one can lose the capacity to feel fear appropriately."

 

"People who feel the need to control others, don't have control over themselves."

 

"I refuse to please others at the expense of my emotional well being. Even if it means saying "no" to people who are used to hearing 'yes'."

 

"Don't let your loyalty become slavery."

"Sometimes just thinking about something is enough to hurt you all over again."

"Poisonous relationships can alter our perception. You can spend many years thinking you're worthless... but you're not worthless, you're unappreciated."

 

"You survived the abuse. You're going to survive the recovery."

 

"Being single is better than being lied to, cheated on and disrespected."

 

"Sometimes you have to let go just to hold on to your sanity. There are people that have mastered making you believe you're the crazy one."

 

"The scars you can't see are the hardest to heal."

 

"A woman should never invest in a relationship she wouldn't want for her daughter, nor allow any man to treat her in a way she could scold her son for."

 

"Sometimes we survive by forgetting."

 

"You can spend a lifetime trying to forget a few minutes of your childhood."

 

"It is easier to build up a child than it is to repair an adult."

 

"A house where a woman is unsafe is not a home."

 

"Not all wounds are visible."

 

"Love is about giving freedom and power, not about gaining control or possession."

 

"Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it's better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting it back together."

 

"Each relationship nurtures a strength or weakness within you."

 

"Standing alone is better than standing with people who hurt you."

 

"Don't judge yourself by what others did to you."

 

"When it comes to abuse, you believe there's no way out. There is always help. There is always a way out."

 

"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds."

 

"Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime."

 

"Trust is only a five-letter word but it can be misused in so many different ways."

 

"Find the strength inside yourself to value your own worth more than staying with someone who only keeps you down."

 

"The journey to leave begins on the inside."

 

"I realize now I am a survivor. I am a stronger woman for opening my eyes and stepping away from someone who didn't respect themselves and would never respect me."

"There are many who don't wish to sleep for fear of nightmares. Sadly, there are many who don't wish to wake for the same fear."

 

"Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul."

 

"One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered."

 

"Love is about giving freedom and power, not about gaining control or possession."

 

"There are far too many silent sufferers. Not because they don't yearn to reach out, but because they've tried and found no one who cares."

 

"Domestic violence causes far more pain than the visible marks of bruises and scars. It is devastating to be abused by someone that you love and think loves you in return."

 

"If you can't be thankful for what you have, be thankful for what you have escaped."

 

"The walls between you and I always pushed us apart. It left nothing but scars fight after fight. And I'm done with you not treating me right."

 

"Men say they love independence in a woman, but they don't waste a second demolishing it brick by brick"

 

"But even when I stop crying, even when we fall asleep and I'm nestled in his arms, this will leave another scar. No one will see it. No one will know. But it will be there. And eventually, all of the scars will have scars, and that's all I'll be--one big scar of a love gone wrong."

 

"Instead of treating your child like how you were treated. Treat them with the same love and attention you wanted from your parents while growing up."

 

"A quick turn around a corner and my planet becomes sand on the shore of a dying Universe"

 

"The thing about secrets is they keep you in a prison. Once you share, WHOOSH, there is a release."

 

"You don't have to wait for someone to treat you bad repeatedly. All it takes is once, and if they get away with it that once, if they know they can treat you like that, then it sets the pattern for the future."

 

"Domestic abuse, also called intimate partner violence, is the systematic suffocation of another person's spirit."

 

“I've overcome neglect and deprivation, abandonment and abuse.”

 

"I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. Did he rape my head, too?"

 

"The rule of thumb is that if someone is able to be verbally or physically abusive, he or she is able to understand that the behavior is wrong."