“It's obvious that I'm a stranger to her; she doesn't even know what I think about the most ordinary things.”

“No matter what I'm doing, I cant help thinking about those who are gone. I catch myself laughing and remember that it's a disgrace to be so cheerful... This gloom will pass.”

“I only look at her as a mother, and she doesn't succeed in being that to me.”

“Why do I always think and dream the most awful things and want to scream in terror?”

“Ordinary people simply don't know what books mean to us, shut up here. Reading, learning, and the radio are our amusements.”

“A voice within me is sobbing, "You see that's what's become of you. You're surrounded by negative opinions, dismayed looks and mocking faces, people who dislike you, and all because you don't listen to the advice of your own better half." Believe me, I'd like to listen, but it doesn't work, because if I'm quiet and serious, everyone thinks I'm putting on a new act and I have to save myself with a joke, and then I'm not even talking about my own family, who assume I must be sick, stuff me with aspirins and setatives, feel my neck and forehead to see if I have a temperature, ask about my bowel movements and berate me for being in a bad mood, until I just can't keep it up anymore, because when everybody starts hovering over me, I get cross, then sad, an finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I'd like to be and what I could be if . . . if only there were no other people in the world.Yours, Anne M. Frank.”

“Why do we trust one another so little? I know there must be a reason, but still I sometimes think it's horrible that you find you can never really confide in people, even in those who are nearest to you.”