Defanging the Vampire Bully

"Never allow yourself to be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life. Define yourself."
HARVEY FIERSTEIN, writer

"A bully is a big a--hole with a little bit of man attached."
MICKEY ROURKE, actor

"I was the kid who used to get shoved into lockers by school bullies. Because of that, I have never felt like a star in my life."
WINONA RYDER, actress

"I paid a worker at New York's zoo to open it just for me and Robin." (Tyson's then-wife.) "When we got to the gorilla cage there was a big silverback gorilla there just bullying the other gorillas. They were so powerful, but their eyes were like an innocent infant. I offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage door and let me smash the silverback right in the snotbox. He declined."
MIKE TYSON, boxer, who as a young child had been savagely abused.

"He seemed to delight in his ability to frighten me...a bully is an emotionally retarded vampire. He is not entitled to your blood."
MARLENA DE BLASI, writer.

"Stalking is bullying. One of the hardest jobs a cop will ever face is getting it through the head of a real sleazebag that he can't dog, follow, threaten, or otherwise torment a woman he wants, who won't have anything to do with him. Quite often he's married to somebody else, or got a girlfriend. He'll lie to them about what he's doing, lie to his own mom. It's not rocket science, ladies. Is he following somebody around? Trying to access her email, Facebook account? And she's made it clear she despises his guts? The guy is a creep. He thinks we don't know about him? We know."
A POLICEWOMAN

"All bullying should be met by steel."
GYPSY saying.

"When I was six years old I went and complained to my Mom because I was being punched around by kids. She gave me some of the best advice I've ever had. She said, If somebody is pushing you around, drop something very heavy on his head. Worked then, works now."
JOHNNY DEPP, actor. To this day his most cherished tattoo is the one on his strong left bicep: his mother's name, BETTY SUE.

"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid-a-hand-on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."

JOHN WAYNE, actor, always said that this line from THE SHOOTIST expressed his own ideas of human dignity and strength, and the way people should treat each other. I think he was right.