50 Powerful Quotes to Help You Understand and Overcome Narcissism for Healing in Your Life
In a world where self-absorption and manipulation often masquerade as confidence and charm, understanding the traits and behaviors of narcissists has never been more crucial. Narcissists can leave lasting scars, undermining self-worth and disrupting lives with their relentless pursuit of admiration and control. This collection of 50 quotes delves into the heart of narcissism, shedding light on the subtle and overt tactics used by these individuals. Through the wisdom of thinkers, survivors, and experts, these quotes aim to empower, inform, and offer solace to those who have encountered the destructive force of narcissism, guiding them toward healing and resilience.
50 Powerful Quotes on Narcissism
“There is simply no winning with a narcissist. He will treat you so horribly that you will become withdrawn and depressed and then he will turn around and say, ‘You’re no fun anymore, you’re always so depressed. I need to be with someone more positive.’” — Susan Williams
“Babies cry to get their needs met. Narcissists are great actors and often use tears as a tool of manipulations, this is an abuse tactic! Do not allow them to let this work as guilt, they are acting!” ― Tracy Malone
“As individuals and as a nation, we now suffer from social narcissism. The beloved echo of our ancestors, the virgin America, has been abandoned. We have now fallen in love with our own image, with images of our making, which turn out to be images of ourselves.” ― Daniel J. Boorstin
“No other being is lesser human than the one who thinks of others as such.” ― Abhijit Naskar
“When people are driving themselves crazy, they have neuroses or psychoses. When they drive other people crazy, they have personality disorders.” — Albert J. Bernstein
“The narcissist is like a bucket with a hole in the bottom: No matter how much you put in, you can never fill it up. The phrase “I never feel like I am enough” is the mantra of the person in the narcissistic relationship. That’s because to your narcissistic partner, you are not. No one is. Nothing is.” ― Dr. Ramani Durvasula
“Hate is the complement of fear and narcissists like being feared. It imbues them with an intoxicating sensation of omnipotence.” ― Sam Vaknin
“I like to be admired from afar, and then complimented up close.” ― Gena Showalter
“When a toxic person can no longer control you, they will try to control how others see you. The misinformation will feel unfair, but stay above it, trusting that other people will eventually see the truth just like you did.” – Jill Blakeway
“Please repair your narcissism before you start loving your neighbor as yourself.” ― Charles F. Glassman
“In such a self-centered society, many people have gone to the extreme of narcissism—being solely concerned about their own personal well-being and agendas while excluding and exploiting others. Narcissism is not only epidemic but is also a pandemic of our times that has been normalized and accepted. Self-serving, narcissistic people are incapable and unwilling to love due to a lack of authentic self and love for one’s self and others.” — Sepideh Irvani
“Narcissists have poor self-esteem, but they are typically very successful. They feel entitled; they’re self-important; they crave admiration and lack empathy. They are also exploitative and envious. The malignant types never forget a slight. They may kill you ten years later for cutting them off in traffic. But they act perfectly normal while plotting their revenge.” — Janet M. Tavakoli
“Withhold admiration from a narcissist and be disliked. Give it and be treated with indifference.” — Mason Cooley
“I wish that people would stop destroying other people just because they were once destroyed.” — Karen Salmansohn
“Narcissism is voluntary blindness, an agreement not to look beneath the surface.” — Sam Keen
“Narcissists withhold affection to punish you. Withhold attention to get revenge. And withhold an emotional empathetic response to make you feel insecure.” ― Alice Little
“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
“Relationships with narcissists are held in place by hope of a ‘someday better,’ with little evidence to support it will ever arrive.” — Dr. Ramani Durvasula
“Sadly, when many individuals realize that the narcissist is insecure and isn’t reassured, they try harder to love this person. Additionally, the narcissist blames his her behavior on something that you are or aren’t doing, and a hooked person we may try to ‘do it better’ or ‘get it right.’ Your increased efforts to love and fix the narcissist only lines you up for more abuse.” — Melanie Tonia Evans
“Relationship with a narcissist in a nutshell: You will go from being the perfect love of their life, to nothing you do is ever good enough. You will give your everything and they will take it all and give you less and less in return. You will end up depleted, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and probably financially, and then get blamed for it.” — Bree Bonchay
“He’s satisfied with himself. If you have a soul you can’t be satisfied.” ― Graham Greene
“I am a recovering narcissist. I thought narcissism was about self-love till someone told me there is a flip side to it. It is actually drearier than self-love; it is unrequited self-love.” — Emily Levine
“A narcissist paints a picture of themselves as being the victim or innocent in all aspects. They will be offended by the truth. But what is done in the dark will come to light. Time has a way of showing people’s true colors.” – Karla Grimes
“Everyone thinks they’re entitled to their 15 minutes of fame. And it’s that narcissism that makes people, who have no business writing a book, think they can write a book.” ― Oliver Markus Malloy
“But both the narcissist and his partner do not really consider each other. Trapped in the moves of an all-consuming dance macabre, they follow the motions morbidly – semiconscious, desensitized, exhausted, and concerned only with survival.” ― Sam Vaknin
“Realize that narcissists have an addiction disorder. They are strongly addicted to feeling significant. Like any addict they will do whatever it takes to get this feeling often. That is why they are manipulative and future fakers. They promise change, but can’t deliver if it interferes with their addiction. That is why they secure back up supply.” ― Shannon L. Alder
“Observe well how the word ‘narcissism’ is often used into marriages. The victims are often those who have separated with their significant other, rather than being on good terms with them. Therefore, we must dig deeper to the core of the word and discover its true meaning. In return, we will get a glimpse of our mentality and the main attributes that drive us to label each other with that conflicted word.” ― Mwanandeke Kindembo
“Have you ever been in a relationship with an individual who demands your attention incessantly and becomes depressed, sulky and even full of rage if your attention goes elsewhere? This is one of the earliest warning signs of a narcissist. Please understand healthy adults do not behave in such a way. This is where people who know the difference turn their back and walk away; they know that any person ringing them 10 times a day and demanding attention is not well. Unfortunately, many individuals, as I did, can mistake (or delude ourselves) that this high need for attention means we’re loved, missed and adored, or maybe we felt wrong in leaving or speaking up, as a result of our own deficient boundary function. Please be assured, this is not love; it’s the deadly calling card of the narcissist.“ — Melanie Tonia Evans
“Narcissists have poorly regulated self-esteem, so they are chronically vulnerable. If they are vulnerable then there is the threat that they may get found out, so they often maintain a grandiose exterior. Because they always measure themselves by other people, they also measure themselves against other people. They are chronically reliant on the opinions of others to form their own sense of self and are always comparing themselves, their status, their possessions and their lives to other people to determine their sense of worth and self-esteem (in a way, narcissists outsource their sense of self).” ― Dr. Ramani Durvasula
“Narcissists are consumed with maintaining a shallow false self to others. They’re emotionally crippled souls that are addicted to attention. Because of this they use a multitude of games, in order to receive adoration. Sadly, they are the most ungodly of God’s creations because they don’t show remorse for their actions, take steps to make amends or have empathy for others. They are morally bankrupt.” ― Shannon L. Alder
“Since narcissists deep down feel themselves to be faultless, it is inevitable that when they are in conflict with the world they will invariably perceive the conflict as the world’s fault.” — M. Scott Peck
“I wonder if the course of narcissism through the ages would have been any different had Narcissus first peered into a cesspool. He probably did.” ― Frank O’Hara
“Pathological narcissists can lose touch with reality in subtle ways that become extremely dangerous over time. When they can’t let go of their need to be admired or recognized, they have to bend or invent a reality in which they remain special despite all messages to the contrary.” ― Bandy X Lee
“What are narcissists looking for, after all? Just someone at their level that they can feel superior to.” ― Luigina Sgarro
“Where there is much pride or much vanity, there will also be much revengefulness.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer
“For some, life may be a playground to undermine the brainwaves of others or simply a vainglorious game with an armory of theatrics, illustrating only bleak self-deception, haughty narcissism and dim deficiency in empathy.” ― Erik Pevernagie
“Healthy levels of narcissism and self-enhancement are necessary, with a low level of self-enhancement being detrimental to our wellbeing and success.” ― Theresa Jackson
“Narcissism falls along the axis of what psychologists call personality disorders . . . but by most measures, narcissism is one of the worst, if only because the narcissists themselves are so clueless.” — Jeffrey Kluger
“The narcissist would love nothing more than to know you are eating uncooked Top Ramen out of a dumpster for dinner tonight while wearing yesterday’s underwear.” — Tina Swithin
“Ego is borne of the need to ‘prove’ oneself instead of making the choice to ‘be’ oneself.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough
“Narcissists are precisely that: careless. They barrel through life, using relationships and people as objects, tools, and folly. While they often seem as if they are cruel or harsh, that is in fact giving them too much credit. They are simply careless. And they do expect other people to clean up their messes. But carelessness is cruel. Frankly, the motivation for their behavior does not matter; what matters is the outcome. And that outcome is damage to other people’s well-being, hopes, aspirations, and lives. Carelessness captures it, but it is not an excuse.” ― Dr. Ramani Durvasula
“I have a very simple question to people who seem to suffer from excessive narcissism: Please name three other persons who are smarter and more capable than you, in the field you work in. In most cases they are utterly unable to answer that question honestly.” — Ingo Molnar
“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.” — W.H. Auden
“The narcissist devours people, consumes their output, and casts the empty, writhing shells aside.” — Sam Vaknin
“Narcissistic love is riding on the rollercoaster of disaster filled with a heart full of tears.”— Sheree Griffin
“Some people seem like a bright light during your darkest moment… a beautiful refuge… but it’s a trap… there is only more pain there. Now that I think about it… I imagine that’s what bugs feel like when they fly into the zapper.” ― Steve Maraboli
“Being a control freak is a weakness, not a strength. If you can’t allow others to shine, you’re exhibiting signs of narcissism and showing a lack of self-confidence. It is isolation through ego.” ― Stewart Stafford
“Anybody who wishes to go beyond the free-will of another person is already practising narcissistic characteristics.” ― Mwanandeke Kindembo
“Nobody can be kinder than the narcissist while you react to life on his terms.” — Elizabeth Bowen
“Every generation narcissistically believes they are the greatest generation.” ― Brien Pittman
“Beware of narcissistic people. They’ll tell everyone you’re crazy, only to cover up their trickery. ” ― Mitta Xinindlu
“An abuser’s psychological diagnosis isn’t the problem. Their sense of entitlement is.” ― Caroline Abbott
