--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was certainly open for something being…" description: "\"I was certainly open for something being on the edge of a nervous breakdown, perplexed by my own sexuality. I was gay.\" — Lionel Blue" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/052/lionel-blue-13131_breakdown_i-was-certainly-open-for-something-being_705822.jpg" --- # I was certainly open for something being on the edge of a… ![“I was certainly open for something being on the edge of a nervous breakdown, perplexed by my own sexuality. I was gay.” quote by Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/052/lionel-blue-13131_breakdown_i-was-certainly-open-for-something-being_705822.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/052/lionel-blue-13131_breakdown_i-was-certainly-open-for-something-being_705822.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/052/lionel-blue-13131_breakdown_i-was-certainly-open-for-something-being_705822.jpg) > “I was certainly open for something being on the edge of a nervous breakdown, perplexed by my own sexuality. I was gay.” [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker describes a personal crisis where sexual identity and mental strain intersect, leading to the realization of being gay. **In simple terms:** A nervous breakdown and sexual confusion revealed his gay identity. Key Takeaway Embrace self‑acceptance amid turmoil. Themes identity mental health LGBTQ+ self‑discovery Mood vulnerable reflective Type personal confessional When to use this quote - coming out - therapy sessions - support groups - mental health advocacy Key Concepts Sexual orientation psychological stress personal revelation Questions to Reflect On - How did this realization change your life? - What support helped you navigate this period? A Different Perspective Self‑acceptance can be hindered by societal stigma. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Breakdown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breakdown/) [Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gay/) [Homosexuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homosexuality/) [Nervous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nervous/) [Nervous breakdown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nervous-breakdown/) [Sexuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sexuality/) ## Related quotes > [“being gay is not about what we do; it’s about who we are. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-robinson/being-gay-is-not-about-what-we-do-it-s-about-who-we-are-it-is/) [Gene Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-robinson/) > [“I have never, nor will I ever, have an issue with anyone’s sexuality. Gay, straight, bi, lesbian, it doesn’t matter to me. I believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-have-never-nor-will-i-ever-have-an-issue-with-anyone-s-sexuality/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“How do you know? How best to ensure his nervous breakdown?" I ask. "Keep going," Christian says. "Just go on as if nothing has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-finnamore/how-do-you-know-how-best-to-ensure-his-nervous-breakdown-i-ask-keep/) [Suzanne Finnamore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-finnamore/) > [Nervous breakdowns can be highly underrated methods of spiritual transformation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/nervous-breakdowns-can-be-highly-underrated-methods-of-spiritual/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [I found out that I couldn't have a nervous breakdown. I tried a couple of times, but it just didn't work out. My mind,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-smothers/i-found-out-that-i-couldn-t-have-a-nervous-breakdown-i-tried-a-couple/) [Tom Smothers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-smothers/) > [“If I had a nervous breakdown every time something awful happened in the world, I’d be crazier than a shithouse rat.   That”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/if-i-had-a-nervous-breakdown-every-time-something-awful-happened-in/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I'm a neurotic Jew who doesn't want loans. I can't even carry a balance on my credit card without having a nervous breakdown.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duff-goldman/i-m-a-neurotic-jew-who-doesn-t-want-loans-i-can-t-even-carry-a/) [Duff Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duff-goldman/) > [One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important, and that to take a holiday would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/one-of-the-symptoms-of-approaching-nervous-breakdown-is-the-belief/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Everybody comes up with this term lucky-"Oh, she's so lucky." Even though I was lucky, I had a lot of struggle before that. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freida-pinto/everybody-comes-up-with-this-term-lucky-oh-she-s-so-lucky-even-though/) [Freida Pinto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freida-pinto/) > [Nobody gets a nervous breakdown or a heart attack from selling kerosene to gentle country folk from the back of a tanker in Somerset.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roald-dahl/nobody-gets-a-nervous-breakdown-or-a-heart-attack-from-selling/) [Roald Dahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roald-dahl/) > [I had a nervous breakdown at 17 when my first love left me, and he was a typical bad boy, albeit a charismatic one,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-leavitt/i-had-a-nervous-breakdown-at-17-when-my-first-love-left-me-and-he-was/) [Caroline Leavitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-leavitt/) > [It's unthinkable not to love -you'd have a severe nervous breakdown. Or you'd have to be Philip Larkin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/it-s-unthinkable-not-to-love-you-d-have-a-severe-nervous-breakdown-or/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) > [Everybody faces obstacles. And I looked to people who had been through many to succeed in life. Abraham Lincoln, born to a poor family,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-winfield/everybody-faces-obstacles-and-i-looked-to-people-who-had-been-through/) [Dave Winfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-winfield/) > [I understand why creative people like dark, but American audiences dont like dark. They like story. They do not respond to nervous breakdowns and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-moonves/i-understand-why-creative-people-like-dark-but-american-audiences/) [Leslie Moonves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-moonves/) > [When Mom had her first nervous breakdown, she said she had a vision of Christ coming to her in the living room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spalding-gray/when-mom-had-her-first-nervous-breakdown-she-said-she-had-a-vision-of/) [Spalding Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spalding-gray/) ## More by Lionel Blue > [Someone gave me a New Testament. I had never before read it systematically. Some parts made sense, some parts shocked me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/someone-gave-me-a-new-testament-i-had-never-before-read-it/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [I thought of such Christian inventions as the ghetto and the Jewish badge of shame. The Nazis didn't have to go very far to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/i-thought-of-such-christian-inventions-as-the-ghetto-and-the-jewish/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [I was not comfortable worshipping another Jew.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/i-was-not-comfortable-worshipping-another-jew/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [I found that when I did something for the sake of heaven, heaven happened. These things changed my life. I owe them to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/i-found-that-when-i-did-something-for-the-sake-of-heaven-heaven/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [Praying privately in churches, I began to discover that heaven was my true home and also that it was here and now, woven into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/praying-privately-in-churches-i-began-to-discover-that-heaven-was-my/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [My mother was a modern woman with a limited interest in religion. When the sun set and the fast of the Day of Atonement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/my-mother-was-a-modern-woman-with-a-limited-interest-in-religion-when/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [So many plusses, so many minuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/so-many-plusses-so-many-minuses/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [I have ended as a Reform Rabbi, grateful to Christianity for so many good things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/i-have-ended-as-a-reform-rabbi-grateful-to-christianity-for-so-many/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [It's more fun to watch without joining in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/it-s-more-fun-to-watch-without-joining-in/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [For a Christian, Jesus is the unique and only way that God has fully revealed himself. For a Jew this cannot be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/for-a-christian-jesus-is-the-unique-and-only-way-that-god-has-fully/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [Pious XII was too neutral to mention the gas chambers; decent people like my own family were turned into devils by crude Christianity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/pious-xii-was-too-neutral-to-mention-the-gas-chambers-decent-people/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [The real evidence is not practically speaking in scholarship but in how Jesus and the Christianity based on him manifest themselves in the lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/the-real-evidence-is-not-practically-speaking-in-scholarship-but-in/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [I learnt pity, sympathy, and what it was like to be at the other end of the stick. Such lessons can't be learnt in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/i-learnt-pity-sympathy-and-what-it-was-like-to-be-at-the-other-end-of/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [I was not allowed a physical lover. Falling in love with Love was the best I could get.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/i-was-not-allowed-a-physical-lover-falling-in-love-with-love-was-the/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) > [An aged rabbi, crazed with liberalism, once said to me, We Jews are just ordinary human beings. Only a bit more so!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-blue/an-aged-rabbi-crazed-with-liberalism-once-said-to-me-we-jews-are-just/) [Lionel Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) [Explore all 51 Lionel Blue quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-blue/) ## More Breakdown quotes > [Ideal for the child and society in the best of times, Rudolf Steiner's brilliant process of education is critically needed and profoundly relevant now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-chilton-pearce/ideal-for-the-child-and-society-in-the-best-of-times-rudolf-steiner-s/) [Joseph Chilton Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-chilton-pearce/) > [When Mom had her first nervous breakdown, she said she had a vision of Christ coming to her in the living room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spalding-gray/when-mom-had-her-first-nervous-breakdown-she-said-she-had-a-vision-of/) [Spalding Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spalding-gray/) > [By measuring the proportion of children living with the same parents from birth and whether their parents report a good quality relationship we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-duncan-smith/by-measuring-the-proportion-of-children-living-with-the-same-parents/) [Iain Duncan Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-duncan-smith/) > [I myself am hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/i-myself-am-hell/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [The general public have a warped view of the speed at which an investigation proceeds. They like to imagine tense conversations going on behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-aaronovitch/the-general-public-have-a-warped-view-of-the-speed-at-which-an/) [Ben Aaronovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-aaronovitch/) > [I understand why creative people like dark, but American audiences dont like dark. They like story. They do not respond to nervous breakdowns and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-moonves/i-understand-why-creative-people-like-dark-but-american-audiences/) [Leslie Moonves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-moonves/) > [“The demand being made of me was to treat the breakdown as if fear and frustration were not a part of it, to act…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-w-frank/the-demand-being-made-of-me-was-to-treat-the-breakdown-as-if-fear-and/) [Arthur W. Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-w-frank/) > [No matter what, once in your life, someone will hurt you. That someone will take all that you are, and rip it into pieces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate/no-matter-what-once-in-your-life-someone-will-hurt-you-that-someone/) [Nate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate/) > [Everybody faces obstacles. And I looked to people who had been through many to succeed in life. Abraham Lincoln, born to a poor family,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-winfield/everybody-faces-obstacles-and-i-looked-to-people-who-had-been-through/) [Dave Winfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-winfield/) > [Consider that all accomplishment is constituted by a series of resolved breakdowns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-erhard/consider-that-all-accomplishment-is-constituted-by-a-series-of/) [Werner Erhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-erhard/) > [Yes, Jenna, I love you with all my heart. And with my atoms and molecules and electrons and whatever further breakdown you require.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-shinn/yes-jenna-i-love-you-with-all-my-heart-and-with-my-atoms-and/) [Sharon Shinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-shinn/) > [Every god is a jealous god after the breakdown of the bicameral mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-jaynes/every-god-is-a-jealous-god-after-the-breakdown-of-the-bicameral-mind/) [Julian Jaynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-jaynes/) > [Whether or not we can save Lake Michigan, whether or not we can avoid a breakdown in our criminal justice system are more important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-scott/whether-or-not-we-can-save-lake-michigan-whether-or-not-we-can-avoid/) [Bill Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-scott/) > [Distance cannot kill this relationship. Time cannot breakdown anything we have. This is a relationship that I am ready to sacrifice and stand up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/distance-cannot-kill-this-relationship-time-cannot-breakdown-anything/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It's unthinkable not to love -you'd have a severe nervous breakdown. Or you'd have to be Philip Larkin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-durrell/it-s-unthinkable-not-to-love-you-d-have-a-severe-nervous-breakdown-or/) [Lawrence Durrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-durrell/) [Browse all 385 Breakdown quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breakdown/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I was certainly open for something being on the edge of a nervous breakdown, perplexed by my own sexuality. 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