79 Quotes by Merle Shain

Power is anathema to intimacy, as it is to love, because when you have power, you have fear. So if you are trying to get closer to someone than you are right now, try recognizing their power rather than showing them yours.

I overheard a young man once saying to his wife, "I can't control you. That's the problem and it's been the problem ever since day one!" And then I heard her answer him and heard her terrible voice. "No!" she said. "The problem isn't that you can't control me, the problem is that you're trying to. Why don't you stop worrying about controlling me and start worrying about controlling yourself?

And they say that there is no intimacy unless there is mutual acceptance and mutual trust, no matter whatever else there is, and I would side with them.

One often learns more from ten days of agony than from ten years of contentment.

Loving can cost a lot but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life.

Friends are like windows through which you see out into the world and back into yourself. If you don't have friends you see much less than you otherwise might.

One often learns more from ten days of agony than ten years of contentment.

The act is unjustifiable that either begs for a blessing, or, having succeeded gives no thanksgiving.

You can employ men and hire hands to work for you, but you must win their hearts to have them work with you.