47 Overcoming Abuse Quotes and Sayings

More than 21-60% of victims of violence and abuse from an intimate partner lose their job due to reasons stemming from violence. In 2015, more than 1600 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States. Abuse is a serious issue in this country. To support and combat those that have become victims of violence, here is a look at some great abuse quotes and sayings to bring you the encouragement you seek.

“Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.”

“An abuser can seem emotionally needy. You can get caught in a trap of catering to him, trying to fill a bottomless pit.”

“Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.”

“Because of dissociation, many victims are able to remember the abuse only when a certain object, smell, color, scene, or experience triggers a sudden, severe reaction.”

“Being good as an adult makes them believe, incorrectly, that they have some control in life. They think that they will be rewarded for their goodness and that it will protect them from harm.”

“Deep connection is the antidote to madness.”

“Don’t judge yourself by what others did to you.”

“Everyone heals in their own time and in their own way. The path isn’t always a straight line, and you don’t need to go it alone.”

“Healthy people understand that others have the capacity to choose to end relationships and it serves as motivation for them to learn to relate in healthy and loving ways.”

“I’m the girl who never gets angry and never wants anything, and that’s why my family is still alive.”

“In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting.”

“In situations of captivity the perpetrator becomes the most powerful person in the life of the victim, and the psychology of the victim is shaped by the actions and beliefs of the perpetrator.”

“Incest is almost always a devastating experience for the victim.”

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

“Lies don’t end relationships the truth does.”

“Many survivors struggle to believe the abuse happened. They don’t want to believe it. It’s too painful to think about.”

“Most people expect survivors of this type of abuse to be extremely damaged and seriously disturbed individuals. Certainly most people around expect them to be in great need of psychiatric help…”

“Most survivors tend to be the care-giver rather than the care-receiver. We tend to be good at being spouses and parents, anticipating our loved ones needs, going the second mile when it came to self sacrifice.”

“My dad had limitations. That’s what my good-hearted mom always told us. He had limitations, but he meant no harm. It was kind of her to say, but he did do harm.”

“Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes.”

“Often it isn’t the initiating trauma that creates seemingly insurmountable pain, but the lack of support after.”

“Remembering things or processing memories can be a charged, or frightening, or uncomfortable time. It can help to imagine yourself being a reporter.”

“Scorned and torn, former love mates aim and shoot childish devastating daggers that penetrate beyond target to pierce the heart of their offspring.”

“She looked at him like it physically hurt her not to speak, and yet she stayed silent.”

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

“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.”

“Some of the world’s most appalling abuses have been justified by religion because it is possible for people to find vindication in their scriptures for any of their prejudices. ”

“Stop looking for that person you were in the past. She has changed. Look for the person she has grown into. She is wiser and stronger than than ever before.”

“Survivors of abuse show us the strength of their personal spirit every time they smile.”

“The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race.”

“The capacity for dissociation enables the young child to exercise their innate life-sustaining need for attachment in spite of the fact that principal attachment figures are also principal abusers.”

“The damage and invisible scars of emotional abuse are very difficult to heal, because memories are imprinted on our minds and hearts and it takes time to be restored.”

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

“The more we get attached to any relationship, the more we lose the grip on our emotional freedom.”

“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.”

“The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when they make their tormentors suffer.”

“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.”

“There is no one way to recover and heal from any trauma. Each survivor chooses their own path or stumbles across it.”

“There might have been prettier women in the room but, when she turned those babies on, fluttered her eyelashes, I was hers.”

“They will hate you if you are beautiful. They will hate you if you are successful. They will hate you if you are right. They will hate you if you are popular.”

“This is particularly true of those who”love too much” and those who tend to lose themselves in their relationships.”

“Toxic relationships are dangerous to your health; they will literally kill you. Stress shortens your lifespan. Even a broken heart can kill you.”

“Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by the one held captive.”

“We are all damaged. We have all been hurt. We have all had to learn painful lessons. We are all recovering from some mistake, loss, betrayal, abuse, injustice or misfortune.”

“Well, I went through some emotionally abusive relationships and allowed myself to not be properly respected as a lady, as a human being even, though I tried everything I knew to be a lady. ”

“When traumatic events are of human design, those who bear witness are caught in the conflict between victim and perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing.”

“You can recognize survivors of abuse by their courage. When silence is so very inviting, they step forward and share their truth so others know they aren’t alone.”

These words offer a great way to inspire you and remind you that you are not alone.