Bessel van der Kolk Quotes
The essence of trauma is that it is overwhelming, unbelievable, and unbearable. Each patient demands that we suspend our sense of what is normal and accept that we are dealing with a dual reality: the reality of a relatively secure and predictable present that lives side by side with a ruinous, ever-present past.

Quotes to Explore
-
I really love to make sweeping historical gestures that are like little illustrations of novels.
-
Your private life is really very important for you. You know, all of us, you know.
-
The best part of being blonde is forgivable momentary lapses of common sense.
-
We need to ask who is the enemy, and the enemies are terrorists.
-
I am in the infantry for 17 weeks and after that I don't know where I am going.
-
I could have ended the war in a month. I could have made North Vietnam look like a mud puddle.
-
The Barenboim Foundation has nothing to do with politics.
-
It's tricky, performing the show live. Because when you're in a big auditorium, in front of 700 people, the natural tendency is to want to talk louder. You want to project.
-
The day we run out of petrol is the day Iran will be free.
-
I want to do a big Broadway musical, at some point. I would love to do that. To do something there would be super-cool.
-
I don't really get stuck in a time warp where, if my film is a success, I have to keep partying till the next one releases, or if my film is a flop, I keep wallowing in sorrow until the next comes my way. My hard work in each film is always there.
-
I have a satellite radio show called 'The Legends of Reggae.' It's a cool way to branch out and do other things. I'm paying respect to the legends of reggae.
-
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the major achievement of President Obama's first term.
-
There are amazing schools and amazing educators that are doing a wonderful job. And then there are a lot of educators that are not prepared to deal with inclusive education. They haven't been trained. It's really quite lovely and easy when you understand how to do it.
-
The general market wants what I do.
-
A lot of times you come against actors who come from a different direction, and you tend to meet in the middle.
-
Slow down, everyone. You're moving too fast.
-
When you're on the pop treadmill, you don't always feel that cool because you have to do things to promote the record that aren't necessarily your environment.
-
Although in skating you compete with other people, anyone who achieves a certain level of success is first and foremost competing against themselves. And for me, the idea that I could always do better, learn more, learn faster, is something that came from skating.
-
In my father's later years he asked several times that I remember him the way I knew him. He said that after his death, people would talk. They would say 'things' about him and he wouldn't be there to defend himself.
-
The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life.
-
I was the official wedding photographer at one of my best friends' weddings. Fortunately she was one of the most easygoing brides ever, so she made it easy for me.
-
The essence of trauma is that it is overwhelming, unbelievable, and unbearable. Each patient demands that we suspend our sense of what is normal and accept that we are dealing with a dual reality: the reality of a relatively secure and predictable present that lives side by side with a ruinous, ever-present past.