“I can honestly say that my misery had been transformed into common unhappiness, so by Freud's definition I have achieved mental health.” — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
I had an inspiration once. I woke up one morning and I knew that it was my task to swallow fifty asprin.It was my… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
I don't have a whole bunch of literary connections. I don't write reviews or attend writer's conferences. I'm kind of shy and don't want… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
Light like this does not exist, but we wish it did. We wish the sun could make us young and beautiful, we wish our… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
If I could have any job in the world I'd be a professional Cinderella. — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
Lunatics are similar to designated hitters. Often an entire family is crazy, but since an entire family can't go into the hospital, one person… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
It's one of the reasons I became a writer, to be able to smoke in peace. — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
It's a fairly accurate portrait of me at eighteen, minus a few quirks like reckless driving and eating binges. It's accurate but it isn't… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
For many of us, the hospital was as much a refuge as it was a prison. Though we were cut off from the world… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
“People ask, How did you get in there? What they really want to know is if they are likely to end up in there as well. I can’t answer the real question. All I can tell them is, It’s easy. And it is easy to slip into a parallel universe. There are so many of them: worlds of the insane,… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share
It was my misfortune-or salvation-to be at all times perfectly conscious of my misperceptions of reality. — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
Scar tissue has no character. It's not like skin. It doesn't show age or illness or pallor or tan. It has no pores, no… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
