“One of my teachers told me I was a nihilist. He meant it as an insult but i took it as a… — Susanna Kaysen Nihilist Copy Share Image
“Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers, or was it that poets and singers specialized in madness?” — Susanna Kaysen Madness Copy Share Image
It was a spring day, the sort that gives people hope: all soft winds and delicate smells of warm earth. Suicide weather. — Susanna Kaysen Delicate Copy Share Image
“The shimmering, ever-shifting borderline, like all boundaries beckons and asks to be crossed.” — Susanna Kaysen Borderline Copy Share Image
“imagined my character as a plate or shirt that had been manufactured incorrectly and was therefore useless.” — Susanna Kaysen Imagined Character Copy Share Image
Tell me that you don’t take that blade and drag it across your skin and pray for the courage to press down. — Susanna Kaysen Blade Copy Share Image
“In a strange way we were free. We’d reached the end of the line. We had nothing more to lose.” — Susanna Kaysen Free Copy Share Image
When you’re sad you need to hear your sorrow structured into sound. — Susanna Kaysen Grief Copy Share Image
Insanity comes in two basic varieties: slow and fast. I'm not talking about onset or duration. I mean the quality of the… — Susanna Kaysen Day to day Copy Share Image
“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 Borderline-personality-disorder Copy Share Image
I noticed that some of my deadness was being replaced by an intense feeling about the Greek stories and the Bible stories.… — Susanna Kaysen Bible Copy Share Image
Actually, it was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself, that dragged me into… — Susanna Kaysen Debate Copy Share Image
Our hospital was famous and housed many great poets and singers. Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers or was it… — Susanna Kaysen Great poet 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… — Susanna Kaysen Scar 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… — Susanna Kaysen Age Copy Share Image
We say that Columbus discovered America and Newton discovered gravity, as though America and gravity weren't there until Columbus and Newton got… — Susanna Kaysen America Copy Share Image
“Nothing," I said. "It's quiet. It's like― I don't know. It's like falling off a cliff." I laughed. "I guess my life… — Susanna Kaysen Life Copy Share Image
By the time we hit the streets they were silent and closed in on us, and they had assumed the Nonchalant Look,… — Susanna Kaysen Cream 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… — Susanna Kaysen Crazy Copy Share Image
“Back then I didn't know that I -- or anyone-- could make a life out of boyfriends and literature. As far as… — Susanna Kaysen Anger Copy Share Image
Don’t ask me those questions! Don’t ask me what life means or how we know reality or why we have to suffer… — Susanna Kaysen Angel Copy Share Image
“a tidal wave of blackness broke over her head. The entire world was obliterated–for a few minutes. She knew she had gone… — Susanna Kaysen Darkness Copy Share Image
“I was trying to explain my situation to myself. My situation was that I was in pain and nobody knew it; even… — Susanna Kaysen Pain 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,… — Susanna Kaysen Crazy Copy Share Image
Mental illness seems to be a communication problem between interpreters one and two. — Susanna Kaysen Communication Copy Share Image
Maybe I was just flirting with madness the way I flirted with my teachers and my classmates. — Susanna Kaysen Classmates Copy Share Image
Not everything has a happy ending, and not everything has an ending. Some things just kind of dribble away or cut off… — Susanna Kaysen Away Copy Share Image
My family had a lot of characteristics - achievements, ambitions, talents, expectations - that all seemed to be recessive in me. — Susanna Kaysen Achievement Copy Share Image
... now I was safe, now I was really crazy, and nobody could take me out of there. — Susanna Kaysen Crazy Copy Share Image
Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren't? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act? — Susanna Kaysen Acting Copy Share Image
“I think many people ill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won't.” — Susanna Kaysen Debate Copy Share Image
When women are angry at men, they call them heartless. When men are angry at women, they call them crazy. — Susanna Kaysen Angry Copy Share Image
It's one of the reasons I became a writer, to be able to smoke in peace. — Susanna Kaysen Able Copy Share Image
“I would if somebody would want to but of course nobody would want to so I wouldn't want to force anybody to… — Susanna Kaysen Anxiety Copy Share Image
“What does the sign say?” “ ‘If you lived here, you’d be home now.’ ” She clenched her hands with excitement. “See, every day… — Susanna Kaysen Every day Copy Share Image
In a strange way we were free. We'd reached the end of the line. We had nothing more to lose. Our privacy,… — Susanna Kaysen Bones Copy Share Image
When I was supposed to be awake, I was asleep. When I was supposed to sleep, I was silent. When a pleasure… — Susanna Kaysen Awake Copy Share Image
“Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren't? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act? If some… — Susanna Kaysen Insanity Copy Share Image
My father was judgmental and kind of mean, and I'm like that. And he was very perfectionistic, and I'm like that. And… — Susanna Kaysen Father Copy Share Image
Disease [is] as one of our languages. Doctors understand what disease has to say about itself. It's up to the person with… — Susanna Kaysen Disease Copy Share Image
![“Disease [is] as one of our languages. Doctors understand what disease has to say about itself. It's up to the person with the disease to understand what the disease has to say to her.” quote by Susanna Kaysen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/093/susanna-kaysen-3041_disease_disease-is-as-one-of-our-languages-docto_585923.jpg)