“You seemed so desperate, like you might drown if someone didn't save you.”
“She was like a drowning person, flailing, reaching for anything that might save her. Her life was an urgent, desperate struggle to justify her life.”
“Watching people who you love struggle with their own problems and refuse help, can be like having to watch someone you care about drown before your own eyes... and you are helpless. You can't save them...”
“If you know someone who tries to drown their sorrows, you might tell them sorrows know how to swim.”
“Anxiety is love's greatest killer. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.”
“I thought you seemed like someone who might enjoy backgammon," said the kid, gravely mistaken.”