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Trauma Quotes

On pain, grief, and quiet healing.

These trauma quotes range from existential struggle to grief following the loss of someone close. For related emotional depth, see our Grow quotes.

World War II was a trauma that paralysed writers. It was something metaphysical, diabolical.

Quotes by A. B. Yehoshua

I'd say that the only trauma I've suffered was existential.

Quotes by Yossi Ghinsberg

Of course the death of Geoffrey has caused a lot of trauma to me generally.

Quotes by Victoria de los Angeles

The establishment of Israel was accompanied by much pain and suffering and a real trauma for the Palestinians.

Quotes by Reuven Rivlin

American Quotes

Oftentimes, discussion of war gets flattened to a discussion of trauma.

Quotes by Phil Klay

Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.

Quotes by Peter A. Levine

The paradox of trauma is that it has both the power to destroy and the power to transform and resurrect.

Quotes by Peter A. Levine

Whether trauma will be a cruel and punishing Gorgon or a vehicle for soaring to the heights of transformation and mastery depends upon how we approach it.

Quotes by Peter A. Levine

Abortions can be, and frequently are, traumatizing, as are other invasive surgeries performed to the sexual and internal organs. All or any of these 'violations' can cause loss of vitality, diminished capacity for erotic connection and pleasure, and other symptoms...

Quotes by Peter A. Levine

Collectively Quotes

When you grow up with a significant amount of trauma, you are realizing it as you get older, and you're realizing the ways you can recover from that trauma. The things that I have witnessed and that I have been...

Quotes by Patrisse Cullors

Delusional pain hurts just as much as pain from actual trauma. So what if it's all in your head?

Quotes by Octavia E. Butler

People who have been through trauma, their souls are hurting.

Quotes by Mary Gauthier

The fact is that trauma and risk taking hadn't become scarier over the years; it had become more normal.

Quotes by Lynsey Addario

All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.

Quotes by Kazuo Ishiguro

Grow Quotes

Trauma is not the sole province of victims. If that were true, soldiers returning from Afghanistan wouldn't suffer from PTSD.

Quotes by Jane Leavy

I have not changed my opinion that the Holocaust is a trauma of European civilization.

Quotes by Imre Kertesz

Everybody faces pain. Everybody has trauma.

Quotes by Hunter Biden

Civil war is a national crisis and also a private trauma: We suffer it collectively and in isolation.

Quotes by Hisham Matar

The American foreign policy trauma of the sixties and seventies was caused by applying valid principles to unsuitable conditions.

Quotes by Henry Kissinger

Head Quotes

The hemorrhages in vitamin K deficiency develop in this way that minute vascular lesions caused by minor mechanical trauma are not closed by rapid clotting, as is the case in normal animals.

Quotes by Henrik Dam

Frequently Asked Questions

What forms of trauma are described in this topic?
They range from personal existential struggles and grief over a loss, to childhood development, to the lingering effects on people who have lived through hardship.
Is grief discussed here?
Yes, one quote reflects on the trauma caused by the death of someone close.
Do any quotes discuss childhood and trauma together?
Yes, one suggests that some measure of protective deception is part of helping children grow up without lasting trauma.
Is trauma described only in personal terms?
Mostly, though one quote speaks more generally about how people carrying past trauma often experience emotional pain.
How does this relate to Grow quotes?
Trauma quotes focus on hardship and its effects, while Grow quotes cover development and change more broadly.

Others reflect on shielding children from painful experiences and the lasting toll trauma takes on a person's inner life. Browse our American and Head quotes for more.