The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.

Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.

Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy.

Ask yourself: Is the connection real if there is no space to be vulnerable?

Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect. When we don’t have that, we shape-shift and turn into chameleons; we hustle for the worthiness we already possess.

When people see opportunity, when they have a sense of control of their own destiny, then they’re less vulnerable to the propaganda and twisted ideologies that have been attracting young people – particularly being turbocharged through social media.

I have felt a calling to dedicate my life in a more direct and personal way to serving the marginalized, empowering the vulnerable and healing those who suffer from spiritual wounds.

Linda Hamilton is my hero. She was so tough and so strong and so vulnerable at the same time. I think that’s what woman action figures are allowed to be: vulnerable, in a way that women are.

We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone-but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.

The more refined and subtle our minds, the more vulnerable they are.

When we’re defined by what people think we lose the courage to be vulnerable.

Ninety percent of the cases of polio are in security-vulnerable areas.

It’s the unknown that makes me feel the most vulnerable.

It’s always nerve-wracking; it’s like going to a new school every time you start a new movie. There are so many people and you’re trying to be comfortable and vulnerable on set in order to be fearless on camera. But it’s fun, it’s part of the job. You’ve just got to be very personable, I guess.

Who is more amateurish, more vulnerable—those who rely on machines that need to be plugged in, or logged on, or in some other way connected in order to be more than a useless slab of plastic … or those who have learned to master life without?

For me, the most serious problem is how America became so vulnerable to the assertion of blatant falsehoods that drive policy and are not corrected by the so-called immune system of democracy, a free press and a free democratic discourse.

A prisoner unaware is the kind of prisoner most vulnerable to her captors, the easiest prey there is.

Blind Willie Johnson is a pretty big vocal influence. He can be very harsh, like gargly, gruff vocals, but also just slip into some very delicate, vulnerable soft stuff. I like that combination.

Happiness comes from within. It is not dependent on external things or on other people. You become vulnerable and can be easily hurt when your feelings of security and happiness depend on the behavior and actions of other people. Never give your power to anyone else.

Climate change is…a gross injustice-poor people in developing countries bear over 90% of the burden-through death, disease, destitution and financial loss-yet are least responsible for creating the problem. Despite this, funding from rich countries to help the poor and vulnerable adapt to climate change is not even 1 percent of what is needed.

Moonlight is very honest and very special to me. I feel like this is the most personal music I’ve made, by far. I’m very proud of it and I’m very excited. It’s scary…it’s vulnerable and kind of terrifying.

Men walk this tightrope where any sign of weakness illicits shame, and so they’re afraid to make themselves vulnerable for fear of looking weak.

There’s only one basic principle of self-defense- you must apply the most effective weapon, as soon as possible, to the most vulnerable target.

Daring greatly means the courage to be vulnerable. It means to show up and be seen. To ask for what you need. To talk about how you’re feeling. To have the hard conversations.

Vulnerability is not weakness. And that myth is profoundly dangerous…. 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.

I feel vulnerable to the astonishing beauty of being alive and to Mother Nature.

Our vulnerability to Russia or any other foreign power is directly related to how divided, partisan, dysfunctional our political process is. That’s the thing that makes us vulnerable.

I’ll work my way from irony to sincerity in the sinking city, a would-be Whitman of the vulnerable grid.

She was trying to sound tough and impatient, but she knew that vulnerable desire to be wooed was still brimming in her tone.

Al Gore seems to have found a great political ploy: Picking up whatever issue he is most vulnerable on and championing the cause. Perhaps he will start to champion perjury statutes and obstruction of justice.

The stuff I write about is pretty universal, the things my closest friends and I talk about – our anxiety about being here on this scary planet, during these scary times, as vulnerable as kittens, having lost so many people I couldn’t live without.

She was one of those people who are irrevocably, incurably honest and therefore both inflexible and vulnerable at the same time.

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

The people with the strong, brave exteriors are just as weak and vulnerable as the rest of us. And of course they never admit to their childish practices, their moments of weakness or absurdity, and then the rest of us think that’s how it should be.

Vulnerability isn’t a bad thing. Everyone’s vulnerable and it only makes you human.