Society chooses to disregard the mistreatment of children, judging it to be altogether normal because it is so commonplace.
Alice MillerThe reason why parents mistreat their children has less to do with character and temperament than with the fact that they were mistreated themselves and were not permitted to defend themselves.
Alice MillerAn unacknowledged trauma is like a wound that never heals over and may start to bleed again at any time.
Alice MillerWithout realizing that the past is constantly determining their present actions, they avoid learning anything about their history. They continue to live in their repressed childhood situation, ignoring the fact that is no longer exists, continuing to fear and avoid dangers that, although once real, have not been real for a long time.
Alice MillerContempt is the weapon of the weak and a defense against one's own despised and unwanted feelings.
Alice MillerIt is not true that evil, destructiveness , and perversion inevitably form part of human existence, no matter how often this is maintained. But it is true that we are daily producing more evil and, with it, an ocean of suffering for millions that is absolutely avoidable. When one day the ignorance arising from childhood repression is eliminated and humanity has awakened, an end can be put to this production of evil.
Alice Miller