Cry Like a Man, Jason Wilson and Eshon Burgundy

A father’s affirmation is foundational to a son’s confidence. (Location 401)

No man should tout he’s the head of his house, when he is rarely there to help make it a home. Zaddiyq AriYah (Location 495)

But boys instinctively look to their makers—their fathers—for answers. And when there are none to be found, they fill the void with what’s available. (Location 558)

How can a father blame a single mother for not teaching his son how to be an accomplished man? This is exactly why our boys stay angry and disengaged, lack focus, and are easily misguided. Men expect boys to act like men, but there’s rarely a man in their lives patiently teaching them how to be one! (Location 579)

Aggressively yelling at a boy is as effective as attempting to stitch up a wound with a needle and no suture. Discipline without love is ineffectual. (Location 589)

My brothers, do not be deceived by misleading mantras, because good guys don’t finish last. They finish just in time for a woman who patiently waits. (Location 678)

Trauma … it’s not always physical. I think emotional pain can often do far more damage. Many times bodily scars heal almost as good as new. A hairline scar or bruised tissue can easily be overlooked. But it’s the mental wounds that dig the deepest, rip the lining of our hope, and hinder our healing. (Location 844)

However, when you unite with a woman who is not your wife, you “sin against your own body” (1 Cor. 6:18). Could you imagine being in a boxing match and every time you hit your opponent, you feel the punch? My brothers, this is what happens when we misuse women to fulfill the need for affirmation. We must learn to live from who we are instead of what we do. (Location 911)

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. Jean de La Fontaine, “The Horoscope” (Location 1134)

“Don’t let the Devil take from you what God intends for you to learn from this,” (Location 1478)

My actions weren’t rooted in love, but I was so heavenly minded that I was no longer any earthly good. (Location 1594)

Never trust a warrior who cannot cry. Irish proverb (Location 1760)

Suffering—it chips away at, massages, and softens the hardest of hearts. It opens our eyes to the paper-thin barrier between us and the world to come. It clears out pettiness and prioritizes those things that matter most. It brings us down from our haughty heights. (Location 1952)

Men often get verbally beaten down in counseling sessions, and I didn’t relish the thought of it happening to me. The misleading mantra “Happy wife, happy life” seemed to work only if the man stayed quiet. But I knew firsthand what happens when men bottle up their emotions: the results are spousal abuse, self-medicating, and extramarital affairs, to name a few. (Location 2203)

For decades I thought power was based on how much weight you could lift and how many men you could knock out. Now I realize anyone untrained can lift a dumbbell or break a jaw. But real power is when a man can navigate through the pressures of this world without succumbing to his negative emotions. To feel something painful and not push it away. To cry, just cry. Like a man. (Location 2281)

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city” (Prov. 16:32 NASB). (Location 2329)