70 Vulnerability Quotes on Acceptance & Openness

It’s hard to lay your heart open for all the world to see, but these vulnerability quotes will help you realize all its perks and advantages!

The world is harsh, and that’s a fact. No wonder most, if not all, people hide behind masks and are afraid of being open to others.

We’re so scared of our hearts being trampled on that we keep our secrets, pains, and struggles to ourselves.

However, doing that will eventually damage your heart, soul, and mental health. You must be open and show your vulnerable parts to find people who genuinely care about you.

After all, it is only through mutual openness and respect that you’ll be able to build strong and meaningful relationships with others.

It’s scary to expose the deepest parts of yourselves, but it’s the only way to have genuine connections and true contentment in life.

So, to help you on this journey, we’ve compiled some of our favorite vulnerability quotes.

Read on and be inspired!

Continue to the list below.

Best Vulnerability Quotes

1. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of connection and the path to the feeling of worthiness. If it doesn’t feel vulnerable, the sharing is probably not constructive.” – Brené Brown

2. “Vulnerability is the essence of connection, and connection is the essence of existence.” – Leo Christopher

3. “Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat; it’s understanding the necessity of both; it’s engaging. It’s being all in.” – Brené Brown

4. “To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.” – Criss Jami

5. “Courage is vulnerability. Vulnerability is courage. Like shadow and light, neither one can exist without the other.” – Wai Lan Yuen

6. “Vulnerability is not weakness. I define vulnerability as emotional risk, exposure, and uncertainty. It fuels our daily lives.” – Brené Brown

7. “There’s nothing more beautiful than authenticity. There’s nothing stronger than vulnerability. There’s no better time than now.” – Vironika Tugaleva

8. “I understand now that the vulnerability I’ve always felt is the greatest strength a person can have. You can’t experience life without feeling life. What I’ve learned is that being vulnerable to somebody you love is not a weakness; it’s a strength.” – Elisabeth Shue

9. “Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” – Brené Brown

Famous Vulnerability Quotes

10. “Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weaknesses.” – Brené Brown

11. “Vulnerability is life without any mask or filter. It’s the best way for me to feel alive.” – Figs O’Sullivan

12. “We need to feel trust to be vulnerable, and we need to be vulnerable in order to trust.” – Brené Brown

13. “People can be at their most vulnerable, but still tenacious at the same time.” – Toni Bernhard

14. “Be vulnerable: quake and shake in your boots with it. the new goodness that is coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things, can only come to you when you are vulnerable.” – Stephen Russell

15. “There is a difference between vulnerability and telling people everything about yourself. Vulnerability is a feeling. Telling everyone about yourself is just facts and details.” – Simon Sinek

16. “Some people should not be allowed to see beyond your surface. Seeing your vulnerability is a privilege not meant for everyone.” – Yasmin Mogahed

Also read: Famous Quotes, Redemption Quotes

Vulnerability Quotes That’ll Inspire You to Be More Open

17. “What makes you vulnerable makes you beautiful.” – Brené Brown

18. “What happens when people open their hearts? They get better.” – Haruki Murakami

19. “Vulnerability is scary but pure. In it, you can find bravery.” – Raquel Franco

20. “I found that the more truthful and vulnerable I was, the more empowering it was for me.” – Alanis Morissette

21. “Allowing yourself to be vulnerable makes you weak but also opens you to the nuances of beauty.” – John Geddes

22. “We can only experience the true beauty of vulnerability when we’re courageous enough to crack open the fractures in our mask and allow the light to shine in.” – Alicya Perreault

23. “Vulnerability is the only authentic state. Being vulnerable means being open, for wounding, but also for pleasure. Being open to the wounds of life means also being open to the bounty and beauty. Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability: it is your greatest asset.” – Stephen Russell

24. “It’s very hard to have ideas. It’s very hard to put yourself out there, it’s very hard to be vulnerable, but those people who do that are the dreamers, the thinkers, and the creators. They are the magic people of the world.” – Amy Poehler

25. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.” – Brené Brown

Also read: Self-Love Quotes

Short Quotes About Vulnerability

26. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.” – Brené Brown

27. “When you shut down vulnerability, you shut down opportunity.” – Brené Brown

28. “Out of our vulnerabilities will come your strength.” – Sigmund Freud

29. “Vulnerability lets in light.” – A.D. Posey

30. “Vulnerability is basically uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.” – Brené Brown

31. “There’s monsters in all of us, but there’s also vulnerability.” – Finn Wittrock

32. “I am vulnerable; that’s why I fight.” – Ronda Rousey

33. “Vulnerability always comes with risk, but its rewards are deep.” – Aisha Mirza

34. “True safety was not in having armor. It was in vulnerability.” – Jewel

35. “Heroes are higher than their vulnerability. That is why they are heroes.” – Amit Kalantri

Vulnerability Quotes That Are Packed With Insights

36. “Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.” – Brené Brown

37. “When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability. To be alive is to be vulnerable.” – Madeleine L’Engle

38. “Vulnerability is important in life, I feel. That’s what allows you to experience intense emotions, whether it’s joy or pain or sadness.” – Kalki Koechlin

39. “The world has enough women who live a masked insecurity. It needs more women who live a brave vulnerability.” – Ann Voskamp

40. “One thing to remember is that human beings connect through vulnerability. That’s our core way of connecting.” – Zoe Buckman

41. “Vulnerability really means to be strong and secure enough within yourself that you are able to walk outside without your armor on. You are able to show up in life as just you. That is genuine strength and courage. Armor may look tough, but all it does is mask insecurity and fear.” – Alaric Hutchinson

Vulnerability Quotes to Open Your Eyes to the Power of Love and Intimacy

42. “We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness, and affection.” – Brené Brown

43. “We are all vulnerable in love. We are more emotionally naked with those we love, and sometimes, inevitably, we hurt each other with careless words or actions.” – Sue Johnson

44. “And maybe that was love. Being so vulnerable and allowing someone else in so far they could hurt you, but they also give you everything.” – Christine Feehan

45. “Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

46. “We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone. But paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.” – Walter Anderson

47. “Vulnerability is the essence of romance. It’s the art of being uncalculated, the willingness to look foolish, the courage to say, ‘This is me, and I’m interested in you enough to show you my flaws with the hope that you may embrace me for all that I am but, more importantly, all that I am not.’” – Ashton Kutcher

48. “To take the risk of loving, we must become vulnerable enough to test the radical proposition that knowledge of another and self-revelation will ultimately increase rather than decrease love.” – Sam Keen

49. “You can’t find intimacy—you can’t find home—when you’re always hiding behind masks. Intimacy requires a certain level of vulnerability. It requires a certain level of you exposing your fragmented, contradictory self to someone else. You running the risk of having your core self rejected and hurt and misunderstood.” – Junot Díaz

50. “Waking up every day and loving someone who may or may not love us back, whose safety we can’t ensure, who may stay in our lives or may leave without a moment’s notice, who may be loyal to the day they die or betray us tomorrow—that’s vulnerability.” – Brené Brown

Wise Vulnerability Quotes to Guide You

51. “Sometimes, we must yield control to others and accept our vulnerability so we can be healed.” – Kathy Magliato

52. “We need to rebrand vulnerability and emotion. A vulnerable man is not some weird anomaly. He is open to being hurt, but also open to love.” – Grayson Perry

53. “To be affirming and encouraging of others requires vulnerability on your part.” – Shandel Slaten

54. “We are vulnerable, not fragile, but our desire to go through life without feeling pain makes us feel fragile.” – Luigina Sgarro

55. “Be careful with whom you associate, especially when you feel emotionally vulnerable because negative people can steal the dream right out of your heart.” – Joel Osteen

56. “Embrace your vulnerability and celebrate your flaws; it will let you appreciate the world around you and make you more compassionate.” – Masaba Gupta

Vulnerability Quotes for Everyone Who Struggles in Life

57. “Why is female vulnerability still only acceptable when it’s neuroticized and personal; when it feeds back on itself? Why do people still not get it when we handle vulnerability like philosophy, at some remove?” – Chris Kraus

58. “Putting our art out there is one of the biggest risks we can take. It’s a special kind of vulnerability. It takes guts to be an artist.” – Teresa R. Funke

59. “Being our messy, imperfect, authentic selves helps create a space where others feel safe to be themselves too. Your vulnerability can be a gift to others. How badass is that?” – Brittin Oakman

60. “If we’re wrapping ourselves up to conceal any vulnerability, whatever happens to us has to go through all those extra layers. Sometimes love doesn’t even reach where we truly live.” – Alexandra Katehakis

61. “Sometimes, what makes us insecure and vulnerable becomes the fuel we need to be overachievers. The antidote for a snakebite is made from the poison, and the thing that made you go backward is the same force that will push you forward.” – T. D. Jakes

62. “We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness, even if our brokenness is not equivalent. Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurture and sustain our capacity for compassion. We have a choice. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. Or we can deny our brokenness, forswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity.” – Bryan Stevenson

Thought-Provoking Vulnerability Quotes You Need to Read Today

63. “Being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure.” – Bob Marley

64. “It took vulnerability to forge strength, the way true courage required fear.” – Martina Boone

65. “Vulnerability is the strongest state to be in. How boring would it be if we were constantly dominant or constantly submissive?” – FKA Twigs

66. “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” – C.S. Lewis

Other Vulnerability Quotes That You Will Relate To

67. “The things we do to avoid vulnerability end up causing us more pain than vulnerability itself.” – Anonymous

68. “If you’ve created a work culture where vulnerability isn’t okay, you’ve also created a culture where innovation and creativity aren’t okay.” – Brené Brown

69. “Allow yourself to feel whatever you are feeling. Notice any labels you attach to crying or feeling vulnerable. Let go of the labels. Just feel what you are feeling, all the while cultivating moment-to-moment awareness.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

70. “I don’t think anyone can walk through the world in a state of vulnerability all the time, can they?” – Ben Whishaw

Are You Open and Honest With Who You Truly Are?

As humans, we’re all social beings who desire to build genuine connections with others. However, this connection is not possible without vulnerability. 

If we’re constantly hiding our true selves and thoughts from others, how can we start building a relationship that will stand the test of time and life’s challenges? All parties in a relationship must be open, honest, and transparent about themselves and their opinions.

It’s a risk to expose our vulnerabilities. But, if we’re with the right people and if we accept who we truly are, then the world’s wonders will be much more apparent to us. We’ll also be healed in many ways—we won’t be afraid of others’ opinions, we’ll be able to follow what we want, and we can freely express our creativity.

To be vulnerable is scary. When you feel yourself drowning in this fear, just remember one of Brené Brown’s quotes that tells us that vulnerability fuels our daily lives. It would drive us to make bolder moves when it comes to ourselves, our dreams, and our relationships with others.

With that, we hope our collection of vulnerability quotes was able to teach you a thing or two about the value of openness and honesty. Let go of your fears, and approach everything with boldness and courage. Remember, within you lies the power to succeed in all aspects of life!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.