Writers, especially poets, are particularly prone to madness. There exists a striking association between creativity and manic depression. Why are more creative people prone to madness? They have more than average amounts of energies and abilities to see things in a fresh and original way—then because they also have depression, I think they’re more in touch with human suffering. — Nick Flynn Copy Share
I became an electrician after high school. But I always had this thing in me to write. But it was always a… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
There are many ways to drown, only the most obvious wave their arms as they're going under. — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
We got him to talk to a psych doctor once, the doctor asked if he heard things other people don't. Sure, Paul answered, I… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“When I was really drunk, I started that stupid business with the bullet in my guts again. I was the only guy at the bar with a bullet in their guts. I kept putting my hand under my jacket, on my stomach and all, to keep the blood from dripping all over the place. I didn’t want anybody to know… — Nick Flynn Copy Share
Memoir is actually the most egoless genre, even though it might seem ostensibly so much ego-driven. In order for it to succeed, you have… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“He claims not to be drinking, but I don’t think he knows what this means.” — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
By the time I make my way to the border of Mauritania, to the edge of the Sahara, I see no end to being lost. You can spend your entire life simply falling in that direction. It isn't a station you reach but just the general state of going down. Once you make it back, if you make it back,… — Nick Flynn Copy Share
“(2002) In Rome, month upon month, I struggled with how to structure the book about my father (He already had the water, he just had to discover jars). At one point I laid each chapter out on the terrazzo floor, eighty-three in all, arranged them like the map of an imaginary city. Some of the piles of paper, I imagined,… — Nick Flynn Copy Share
In life you get one take, and it's perfect. It's strange, afterwards you might think I shouldn't have reacted that way, but that's the… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
For years before I became a father, I would try to spend as much time as I could with my friends who were parents… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“The boat has become supreme isolation, chosen isolation, holding myself apart from the world, which I only dimly understand anyway. I can sit on the aft deck and never be surprised by anything again- no phone will ever ring, no one will knock that I haven't seen coming for a quarter mile. that I can go to sleep any night… — Nick Flynn Copy Share
