#narcissism

The mother gazes at the baby in her arms, and the baby gazes at his mother's face and finds himself therein... provided that the mother is really looking at the unique, small, helpless being and not projecting her own expectations, fears, and plans for the child. In that case, the child would find not himself in his mother's face, but rather the mother's own projections. This child would remain without a mirror, and for the rest of his life would be seeking this mirror in vain. ↗

— Donald Woods Winnicott

#parenting #life

I like to be admired from afar, and then complimented up close. ↗

— Gena Showalter

#narcissism #seduction

Let me tell you what I just heard. Talk, talk, talk, I. Talk, talk, talk, I. Well, what about me? ↗

— Gena Showalter

#seduction

When the healthy pursuit of self-interest and self-realization turns into self-absorption, other people can lose their intrinsic value in our eyes and become mere means to the fulfillment of our needs and desires. ↗

— P.M. Forni

#narcissism #rudeness #self-realization

Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people. ↗

— Andre Dubus

#element #how #important #look #narcissism

Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism. ↗

— Sigmund Freud

#humble #love #loves #narcissism #part

My main concern is with the world order ↗

— George Soros

#power #age

Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful but because it is his. If it were his beauty that enthralled him, he would be set free in a few years by its fading. "After all," sighed Narcissus the hunchback, "on me it looks good. The contemplation of his reflection does not turn Narcissus into Priapus: the spell in which he is trapped is not a desire for himself but the satisfaction of not desiring the nymphs. "I prefer my pistol to my p…," said Narcissus; "it cannot take aim without my permission" – and took a pot shot at Echo. ↗

— W.H. Auden

#beauty

Hate is the complement of fear and narcissists like being feared. It imbues them with an intoxicating sensation of omnipotence. ↗

— Sam Vaknin

#narcissists #love

Love without sacrifice is like theft ↗

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

#love #manipulation #marriage #marriage-advice #narcissism