40 Inspirational Quotes from Rising Strong by Brené Brown

by Kenneth Wong
June 6, 2020April 8, 2024

Our stories of struggle can be big ones, like the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, or smaller ones, like a conflict with a friend or colleague. Regardless of magnitude, the rising strong process is the same: We reckon with our emotions and get curious about what we’re feeling; we rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth, and we live this process until it becomes a practice and creates nothing short of a revolution in our lives. In Rising Strong, Brené takes a deep dive into stories from Fortune 500 company CEOs, teachers, and parents on being brave, falling, and getting back up. Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It’s the process that teaches us the most about who we are. Keep scrolling to read 40 Inspirational Quotes from Rising Strong by Brené Brown.

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ALSO READ: 40 Empowering Quotes from Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

40 Inspirational Quotes from Rising Strong by Brené Brown

When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write the ending.
Compassionate people ask for what they need. They say no when they need to, and when they say yes, they mean it. They’re compassionate because their boundaries keep them out of resentment.
Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.
Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable.
Perfection is about the furthest thing in the world from badassery.
I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked.
We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.
The opposite of recognizing that we’re feeling something is denying our emotions. The opposite of being curious is disengaging. When we deny our stories and disengage from tough emotions, they don’t go away; instead, they own us, they define us.
Our job is not to deny the story, but to defy the ending—to rise strong, recognize our story, and rumble with the truth.
This is my truth. And I will choose how this story ends.
Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.
People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses.
Sometimes when we are beating ourselves up, we need to stop and say to that harassing voice inside, “Man, I’m doing the very best I can right now.
We don’t have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to.
To love is to be vulnerable.
How can we expect people to put value on our work when we don’t value ourselves enough to set and hold uncomfortable boundaries?
When I see people stand fully in their truth, or when I see someone fall down, get back up, and say, “Damn. That really hurt, but this is important to me and I’m going in again”—my gut reaction is, “What a badass.”
There is no greater threat to the critics and cynics and fearmongers than those of us who are willing to fall because we have learned how to rise with skinned knees and bruised hearts.
When we deny our stories, they define us. When we run from struggle, we are never free. So we turn toward truth and look it in the eye. We will not be characters in our stories. Not villains, not victims, not even heroes. We are the authors of our lives.
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
Of all the things trauma takes away from us, the worst is our willingness, or even our ability, to be vulnerable. There’s a reclaiming that has to happen.
It’s always helpful to remember that when perfectionism is driving, shame is riding shotgun.
A lot of cheap seats in the arena are filled with people who never venture onto the floor. If you’re not in the arena getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.
As Rumi says, “We’re all just walking each other home.”
Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.
Stay in your own lane. Comparison kills creativity and joy.
Choosing to be curious is choosing to be vulnerable because it requires us to surrender to uncertainty.
I define wholehearted living as engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.
I don’t trust a theologian who dismisses the beauty of science or a scientist who doesn’t believe in the power of mystery.
We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.
Just because we didn’t measure up to some standard of achievement doesn’t mean that we don’t possess gifts and talents that only we can bring to the world.
Just because someone failed to see the value in what we can create or achieve doesn’t change its worth or ours.
Grace will take you places hustling can’t.
Learning to trust and lean in to love again can feel impossible.
Generosity is not a free pass for people to take advantage of us, treat us unfairly, or be purposefully disrespectful and mean.
One of the greatest challenges of becoming myself has been acknowledging that I’m not who I thought I was supposed to be or who I always pictured myself being.
No regrets doesn’t mean living with courage, it means living without reflection. To live without regret is to believe you have nothing to learn, no amends to make, and no opportunity to be braver with your life.
We can rise up from our failures, screwups, and falls, but we can never go back to where we stood before we were brave or before we fell. Courage transforms the emotional structure of our being.
When we deny our stories and disengage from tough emotions, they don’t go away; instead, they own us, they define us.
When we own our stories, we avoid being trapped as characters in stories someone else is telling.

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