Abusive Quotes - Page 3

• This new world was a vicious, sleek world made of street lights and tight jeans, sharp smiles and fast cars. This was a city, edited. A city, pared down to its bare minimums, beautiful and abusive.

  Maggie Stiefvater

  Beautiful, Light, Jeans

  Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff (2013). “The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories”, p.227, Carolrhoda Lab ™

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• A thousand times today I've started to open my mouth, started to squeak out, "Can you tell me...? But then I'd look into the front seat, at my mother's silent shaking, my father's grim profile, the mournful bags under his eyes, and all the questions I might ask seemed abusive. Assault and battery, a question mark used like a club. My parents are old and fragile. I'd have to heartless to want to hurt them.

  Margaret Haddix

  Mother, Hurt, Fear

  Margaret Peterson Haddix (2008). “Double Identity”, p.2, Simon and Schuster

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• The legitimacy of the leadership depends on what that country thinks of its leaders. When we lay off, more and more Iranians tend to be critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The more abusive we are and the more pressure we put on them, the more nationalism fuses with fundamentalism in Iran.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Country, Thinking, Leader

  "Here’s What Zbigniew Brzezinski Thought of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Iranian Nukes". Interview With Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. September/October 2008.

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• Those in powerless positions aren't about to complain about bullying bosses, abusive supervisors or corrupt co-workers. There is no safe way to do so and no process that promises redress.

  Margaret Heffernan

  Bullying, Boss, Promise

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• Looking back, one of the things I love most about my mom was that she never, ever relented. She stuck to her guns right up until the end. She wasn't abusive, but she was never that thrilled that I was gay.

  Rufus Wainwright

  Mom, Gay, Gun

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• What we Americans go through to pick a president is not only crazy and unnecessary but genuinely abusive. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent in a craven, cynical effort to stir up hatred and anger on both sides.

  Matt Taibbi

  Crazy, Cynical, Effort

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• Over the years, Western governments have been criticized for working with foreign police who have proved abusive or corrupt.

  Samantha Power

  Government, Years, Police

  "The Enforcer" by Samantha Power, www.newyorker.com. January 19, 2009.

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• Of course the lower classes have always felt downtrodden and aspired to a better life. But there is this theory that people respond to a class structure in England - there was a time when people knew who they were and knew whom they served and as long as management wasn't abusive, it was a good life for people.

  Damian Lewis

  Good Life, Class, Long

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• Some parents let their kids sleep at other people's houses, where they drink alcohol, watch TV for hours and God knows what else. But if you say you have to get all A's and practice the violin for two hours, then they consider that abusive. That upsets me.

  Amy Chua

  Sleep, Kids, Practice

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• When someone comes up to me and says, 'Mary, you helped save my marriage', or, 'Mary, you helped me get out of this abusive relationship', I'm in it, really in their lives. And I'm so passionate about my feelings, but also about showing people the way through theirs.

  Mary J. Blige

  People, Feelings, Passionate

  "'I saw my life going down a drain'". Interview with lex Macpherson, www.theguardian.com. January 31, 2008.

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• A lot of people who are involved in self-discovery lose energy to abusive teachers, to abusive friends and to entities, non-physical beings.

  Frederick Lenz

  Teacher, Discovery, Self

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• What good is talking if neither of you are really committed? If one of you had an affair or got addicted to drugs or was abusive, simply talking about it wouldn;t take the hurt away; or fix the trust that's been lost. In the end, marriage comes down to actions. I think people talk too much about the things that bother them, instead of actually doing the little things that keep a marriage strong.

  Nicholas Sparks

  Strong, Hurt, Thinking

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• The squirrels on campus were beyond domestic; they were practically domestically abusive.

  Rainbow Rowell

  Squirrels, Campus

  Rainbow Rowell (2016). “The Rainbow Rowell Collection: Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, Landline, and Carry On”, p.326, St. Martin's Griffin

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• I can't stand to watch anything that I'm in. I tear it apart. The worst thing you can do is leave me alone and let me watch what I'm in. It's abusive.

  Elias Koteas

  Leave Me Alone, Tears, Watches

  Interview with Sean O'Neal, www.avclub.com. March 29, 2011.

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• I grew up with an extremely abusive father. As a mother, I wanted to protect my own children from exposure to violence. When I found out one of my daughters was in an abusive relationship, it broke my heart. Finally, she left him ?- but only after his abuse started spreading to the children.

  Ginny Brown-Waite

  Mother, Daughter, Children

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• The biggest challenge is to convince a woman that it's not her fault. My daughter is 25; my stepdaughter is 22. As a mother, I want them to know that if a boyfriend is abusive, you cannot ignore it ?- 'Oh, he's been drinking,' or 'He had a bad day.' There is no excuse for a man hitting a woman. Ever.

  Debbie Stabenow

  Mother, Daughter, Drinking

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• WikiLeaks will not comply with legally abusive requests from Scientology any more than WikiLeaks has complied with similar demands from Swiss banks, Russian offshore stem-cell centers, former African kleptocrats, or the Pentagon.

  Julian Assange

  Cells, Freedom Of Speech, Wikileaks

  "No Secrets". The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com. June 9, 2010.

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• The common belief that coaches must be abusive to be successful is a myth. Research shows that if you find a task fun, you'll perform better. If more coaches took . . . a Golden Rule approach to coaching, treating their players the way they themselves would like to be treated, fewer athletes would drop out of sports in their teens, and more athletes at every level would be happier and more satisfied.

  Ralph Nader

  Sports, Fun, Athlete

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• Strong Women never put their safety or their self-esteem aside to please someone else or to keep a man. If someone acts inappropriately or abusively in any way (including becoming emotionally abusive), Strong Women stand up for themselves and make it abundantly clear that they will not tolerate the abuse. If this doesn't work, they walk away.

  Beverly Engel

  Being Yourself, Strong Women, Self Esteem

  Beverly Engel (2011). “AARP The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused--and Start Standing Up for Yourself”, p.2, John Wiley & Sons

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• Any relationships that would reject you for being true to yourself are - by definition - abusive relationships. You'll be much better off when you let them go.

  Steve Pavlina

  Rejects You, Thought Provoking, Definitions

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• To understand Cerutty you have to see him as a multifaceted personality. He could be both charming and very abusive. He was extremely amusing and darn good company providing you weren't quarrelling with him.

  John Landy

  Running, Personality, Charming

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• Most bullies are the product of a stressful and often abusive home life. Next time a bully threatens or attacks you, just yell, 'Don't abuse me like your parents abuse you!' Then call children's services and tell them you saw this bully crying in the bathroom and you're worried about him. Bam! He just got moved to a foster home.

  Eugene Mirman

  Children, Home, Bully

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• There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger.

  Pranab Mukherjee

  Human Rights, Hunger, Humiliation

  Acceptance Speech on Assumption of office as President of India, pib.nic.in. July 25, 2012.

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• In the US the overwhelming majority of those executed are psychotic, alcoholic, drug addicted or mentally unstable. They frequently are raised in an impoverished and abusive environment. Seldom are people with money or prestige convicted of capital offenses, even more seldom are they executed.

  George Ryan

  People, Drug, Majority

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• Sociologists and historians have avoided looking for the family sources of wars and social violence. Whenever a group produces murderers, the early parental relationship must have been abusive and neglectful. Yet this elementary truth has not even begun to be considered in historical research; just stating that poor mothering lies behind wars seems blasphemous.

  Lloyd deMause

  War, Lying, Historical

  "The Emotional Life of Nations". Book by Lloyd deMause, 2002.

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