Susanna Kaysen Quotes

I think I'm drawn to characters with complexity or who are under duress in some way and have some conflict going on.

My thoughts, imprisoned in my secret woes, with flamy breaths do issue oft in sound.

My soul is a broken field, plowed by pain.

There is much pain that is quite noiseless; and vibrations that make human agonies are often a mere whisper in the roar of hurrying existence.

I don't need more pain in my life. Why did I invite it in? Do I have to feel pain to believe I feel anything at all?

One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside.

The silence was unbearable to him. If the pictures could have reflected the feelings inside him, they would have been screaming in pain.

The words went round and round and round in my mind and my body, until I knew they were no longer my words but something that had been carved into my heart. And now my soul was crying.

You have so much pain inside yourself that you try & hurt yourself on the outside because you want help.

My soul is dark with stormy riot: directly traced over to diet.

We can never flee the misery that is within us.

I remember one day sitting at the pool and suddenly the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Why was I so unhappy? I had success. I had security. But it wasn't enough. I was exploding inside.

I've always been at war with myself, for right or wrong. I don't know how to explain it more. It's universal. Some people are better at dealing with it, and they sleep with no pain - not pain, arguments. I've grown quite comfortable with being at war.

I am always fascinated by the mental struggles that people and characters have.

I just didn't want a musical side of me being prosperous but I'm dying on the inside.

In Paris on a chilling evening late in October of 1985 I first became fully aware that the struggle with the disorder in my mind - a struggle which had engaged me for several months - might have a fatal outcome.

Our worst pain is confined within our own skin.

If you're yelling within you that they shouldn't yell at you, that is where the pain begins, not with their yelling at you.

…I hate myself for not being able to go downstairs naturally and seek comfort in numbers. I hate myself for having to sit here and be torn between I know not what within me.

Anything, anything would be better than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses one and never hurts quite enough.

When I'm in pain and grief and despair, my throat is clenched and my heart hurts.

Delia's arms were inscribed with a grid of self- inflicted wounds, an intricate text of self-loathing