“One day I looked at something in myself that I had been avoiding because it was too painful. Yet once I did, I had an unexpected surprise. Rather than self-hatred, I was flooded with compassion for myself because I realized the pain necessary to develop that coping mechanism to begin with.”

American self-help author, speaker, and political activist

Marianne Williamson is an American self-help author, speaker, and political activist. She began her career as a spiritual leader at the Church of Today, a Unity church in Warren, Michigan, and later became widely known in the 1990s through her appearances on Oprah Winfrey's show. She wrote several self-help books, including A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, published in 1992 and later a New York Times best seller. She was also known as Winfrey's spiritual advisor, and her work often circles around spirituality, healing, and personal transformation.