“ Insanity comes in two basic varieties: slow and fast... Viscosity and Velocity are opposites, yet they can look the same. Viscosity causes the stillness of disinclination; velocity causes the stillnes… Susanna Kaysen
“ I would if somebody would want to but of course nobody would want to so I wouldn't want to force anybody to want to. Susanna Kaysen
“ An observer can’t tell if a person is silent and still because inner life has stalled or because inner life is transfixingly busy. Susanna Kaysen
“ Kaysen elaborates through parts of the book on her thoughts about how mental illness is treated. She explains that families who are willing to pay the rather high costs of hospitalization do so to pro… Susanna Kaysen
“ Why did she do it? Nobody dared to ask. Because - what courage! Who had the courage to burn herself? Twenty aspirin, a little slit alongside the veins of the arm, maybe even a bad half hour standing o… Susanna Kaysen
“ This time I read the title of the painting: Girl Interrupted at Her Music. Interrupted at her music: as my life had been, interrupted in the music of being seventeen, as her life had been, snatched an… Susanna Kaysen
“ A successful suicide demands good organization and a cool head, both of which are usually incompatible with the suicidal state of mind. Susanna Kaysen
“ Are you crazy? It's a common phrase, I know. But it means something particular to me: the tunnels, the security screens, the plastic forks, the shimmering, ever-shifting borderline that like all bound… Susanna Kaysen
“ Viscosity occurs on a cellular level. And so does velocity.In contrast to viscosity's cellular coma, velocity endows every platelet and muscle fiber with a mind of its own, a means of knowing and comm… Susanna Kaysen
“ It never stopped, even at night, it was our lullaby. It was our metronome, our pulse. It was our lives measured out in doses slightly larger than those famous coffee spoons. Soup spoons, maybe? Dented… Susanna Kaysen
“ 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
“ Suicide is a form of murder— premeditated murder. It isn’t something you do the first time you think of doing it. It takes some getting used to. And you need the means, the opportunity, the motive. A… Susanna Kaysen
“ I wasn't convinced I was crazy, though I feared I was. Some people say that having any conscious opinion on the matter is a mark of sanity, but I'm not sure that's true. I still think about it. I'll a… Susanna Kaysen
