Quotes about Validation

Grief is a form of validation; it says the wound mattered. It mattered. You mattered.

The great divide lies between men as lovers and men as consumers. Does he seek her out, long for her, because really he yearns for her to meet some need in his life—a need for validation (she makes him feel like a man), or mercy, or simply sexual gratification? That man is a Consumer, as my friend Craig calls him. The lover, on the other hand, wants to fight for her—he wants to protect her, make her life better, wants to fill her heart in every way he can.

Most of our addictions [shopping, food, bad relationships] as women flare up when we feel that we are not loved or sought after.

A man whose identity flows out of deep validation doesn't wilt under criticism. He enjoys applause when it comes but frankly isn't desperate for it. He can walk away from work at five o'clock; he doesn't measure his success by how much money he makes. We grow into this man, to be sure; I'm not setting a new standard of perfection. But what I am describing.

When I was about twelve I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody's noticed. If there is such a thing as a genius, I am one, and if there isn't I don't care.

I would like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we've passed the audition.

If we are addicted to people's approval, we will always experience pain when that approval is withdrawn--as it always is.

We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.

Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve the Faith they owe; when earnestly they seek such proof, conclude, they then begin to faile.

If you don't live by the praise of men you won't die by their criticism.

Men are not our problem; it's what we are trying to get from them that messes us up. We use guys like mirrors to see if we're valuable.

That's what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he's wise.