Skip to content

Addiction Quote by DeSales Harrison

“...there was one thing she would think about when she was high, one thing she would feel: that she was transparent, not invisible, but transparent. But this was the thing: she wasn’t see- through, she wasn’t transparent to light like glass or air, she was transparent to the dark. She said that’s…” quote by DeSales Harrison
Download Open image
““...there was one thing she would think about when she was high, one thing she would feel: that she was transparent, not invisible, but transparent. But this was the thing: she wasn’t see- through, she wasn’t transparent to light like glass or air, she was transparent to the dark. She said that’s what heroin did, it brought her down to the seafloor, the floor of an ocean trench. Relieved of the need to see, relieved of the need to breathe, she belonged to the darkness completely. It possessed her, moved through her unresisted, as though she herself were made of nothing more than water and darkness, as though she herself were nothing more than a place, a place where the current turned on itself a little and moved on...I said that was it, the big question she carried around in her, the question whether despair was the only way out, whether the only thing she could really make was her escape. That makes sense, she said, just as she said whenever she didn’t agree with my interpretation. But . . . there’s a frustration . . . I want to be clear, perfectly clear. You want to be free to stop hiding things. God, if that’s true, she said with sudden coldness, then all of this is just a load of shit. I knew then that I had overstepped and had ruined something, that I had spooked her and she would make her escape into an anodyne or trivial association. To my surprise, however, she countered and pushed ahead. You are wrong. It’s not that I want to stop hiding. It’s not that I want to come out and say the thing I have to say. Don’t you see? I want there to be nothing. Nothing to hide, and no place to put it. No things, no places. Do you see what I am saying? Can you understand that? Jesus, how could you?””

DeSales Harrison

About This Quote

Source Novel: The Transparent Girl, DeSales Harrison, 2020

She feels invisible yet transparent to darkness, seeking escape through despair, but ultimately wants nothing to hide.

In simple terms: She wants to be empty, without secrets.

Key Takeaway

Embrace openness, confront emptiness.

Themes

identity despair transparency freedom

Mood

melancholic introspective

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

  • therapy
  • creative writing
  • addiction recovery

Key Concepts

existentialism nihilism psychology

Questions to Reflect On

  • What does it mean to have nothing to hide?
  • Can transparency be healing?
A Different Perspective

Complete emptiness may be impossible.

3.0 out of 5 (6 ratings)

More by DeSales Harrison

Explore all 10 DeSales Harrison quotes

More Addiction quotes

Browse all 2,134 Addiction quotes