The debate was wearing me out. Once you've posed that question, it won't go away. I think many people kill themselves simply… — Susanna Kaysen Bus Copy Share Image
It's important to cultivate detachment. One way to do this is to practice imagining yourself dead, or in the process of dying.… — Susanna Kaysen Achieve 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
“I think many people ill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won't.” — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
What is it about meter and cadence and rhythm that makes their makers mad? — Susanna Kaysen Cadence Copy Share Image
An observer can't tell if a person is silent and still because inner life has stalled or because inner life is transfixingly… — Susanna Kaysen Busy Copy Share Image
“Who had the courage to burn herself? Twenty aspirin, a little slit alongside the veins of the arm, maybe even a bad… — Susanna Kaysen Courage 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
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
“Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is… Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me… — Susanna Kaysen Crazy Copy Share Image
For nearly a century the psychoanalysts have been writing op-ed pieces about the workings of a country they've never traveled to, a… — Susanna Kaysen Analysts 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
“Insanity comes in two basic varieties: slow and fast... Viscosity and Velocity are opposites, yet they can look the same. Viscosity causes… — Susanna Kaysen Fascination 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 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
Emptiness and boredom: what an understatement. What I felt was complete desolation. Desolation, despair, and depression. Isn't there some other way to… — Susanna Kaysen Angst 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
“One of the great pleasures of mental health (whatever that is) is how much less time I have to spend thinking about… — Susanna Kaysen Health Copy Share Image
Emptiness and boredom: what a complete understatement. What I felt was complete desolation. Desolation, despair and boredom. — Susanna Kaysen Boredom Copy Share Image
“It’s a mean world,” she’d say. She was usually glad enough to be back. “There’s nobody to take care of you out… — Susanna Kaysen Mean world Copy Share Image
Twenty aspirin, a little slit alongside the veins of the arm, maybe even a bad half hour standing on a roof: We've… — Susanna Kaysen Arms Copy Share Image
Whatever we call it - mind, character, soul - we like to think we possess something that is greater than the sum… — Susanna Kaysen Character Copy Share Image
“imagined my character as a plate or shirt that had been manufactured incorrectly and was therefore useless.” — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
“But the fact that I couldn't hold my job was worrisome. I was probably crazy. I'd been skirting the idea of craziness… — Susanna Kaysen Copy Share Image
