Quotes by Martha Beck

About Martha Beck:

Martha Nibley Beck is an American sociologist, life coach, best-selling author, and speaker who specializes in helping individuals and groups achieve personal and professional goals. She holds a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies and master's and Ph.D. degrees in sociology, both from Harvard University. Beck is the daughter of deceased LDS Church scholar and apologist, Hugh Nibley. She received national attention after publication in 2005 of her best-seller, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith in which she accuses her father of sexual abuse. In addition to authoring several books, Beck is a columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Expectation loiters in the DNA of every sentient being; when you tell yourself or a loved one, 'Don't get your hopes up,' you're fighting ancient genetic programming.

Martha Beck

I cannot count the times I've been defeated, humiliated, or physically injured immediately after saying the words, 'Hey, how hard can it be?' But that never seems to stop me from saying them again.

Martha Beck

Many of us have spent a lifetime trying to be what we're not, feeling lousy about ourselves when we fail and sometimes even when we succeed. We hide our differences when, by accepting and celebrating them, we could collaborate to make every effort mo...

Martha Beck

My dog has the intellectual capacity of a lime wedge, yet even he possesses an elaborate set of assumptions, based on his ability to control my behavior through a combination of slavish devotion and incessant howling.

Martha Beck

Self-improvement books, friends, and polite strangers often tell soothing lies about our physical appearance that prevent many of us from facing, discussing, and solving our real problems.

Martha Beck

Painful events leave scars, true, but it turns out they're largely erasable. Jill Bolte Taylor, the neuroanatomist who had a stroke that obliterated her memory, described the event as losing '37 years of emotional baggage.'

Martha Beck

Do whatever it takes to convey your essential self.

Martha Beck

If you want to end your isolation, you must be honest about what you want at a core level and decide to go after it.

Martha Beck

Every worldview I chose, it seemed, edged me toward belief.

Martha Beck

We evolved to move and to learn with all our five senses!

Martha Beck

Most of my clients don't realize that the way they look and the way they think about their looks are two separate issues.

Martha Beck

To make an activity joyful, keep adding things until the activity as a whole becomes more appealing than repulsing.

Martha Beck

Friends, there are many areas in which I need encouragement, but worrying is not one of them. I worry the way Renee Fleming sings high Cs: Effortlessly. Loudly. At length.

Martha Beck

If you're totally sedentary and eat 2,500 calories a day, don't instantly go to 1,200 calories and hours of aerobics - your weight loss will be sudden and violent, but also fleeting.

Martha Beck

Whatever terrible things may have happened to you, only one thing allows them to damage your core self, and that is continued belief in them.

Martha Beck

A designated patient 'carries' the group's dysfunction. A designated issue performs the same service for an individual, dominating our psyches so that other troubles can go unnoticed.

Martha Beck

In the developed world, hundreds of millions of us now face the bizarre problem of surfeit. Yet our brains, instincts, and socialized behavior are still geared to an environment of lack. The result? Overwhelm - on an unprecedented scale.

Martha Beck

I've never understood why some people hesitate before diving into unfamiliar tasks or activities. I couldn't imagine wanting more instructions about anything.

Martha Beck

One reason most people never stop thinking is that mental frenzy keeps us from having to see the upsetting aspects of our lives. If I'm constantly brooding about my children or career, I won't notice that I'm lonely. If I grapple continuously with lo...

Martha Beck

Adults under threat feel like children.

Martha Beck

I always felt that it was my job to try to help other people get it and deal with it.

Martha Beck

Author Bio

  • NameMartha Beck
  • DescriptionAmerican sociologist
  • BornNovember 29, 1962
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionSociologist