“In the meantime, I could withdraw to my room, could hide and sleep as if I were dead”

“In those pamphlets that they give at mental health centers where they list the ten or so symptoms that would indicate a clinical depression, 'suicide threats' or even simple 'talk of suicide' is considered cause for concern. I guess the point is that what's just talk one day may become a real activity the next. So perhaps after years of walking around with these germinal feelings, these raw thoughts, these scattered moments of saying I wish I were dead, eventually I too, sooner or later, would succumb to the death urge. In the meantime, I could withdraw to my room, could hide and sleep as if I were dead.”

“Sometimes I wish I could walk around with a HANDLE WITH CARE sign stuck to my forehead.”

“If I were another person, I go on, I wouldn’t want to deal with me, I don’t want to deal with me, It’s so hopeless, I want out of this life. I really do. I keep thinking that if I could just get a grip of myself, I could be all right again. I keep thinking I’m driving myself crazy, but I swear, I swear to God, I have no control. It’s so awful, It’s like some demons have taken over my mind. And nobody believes me, Everybody thinks I could be better if I wanted to. But I can’t be the old Lizzy anymore, I can’t be myself anymore, I mean, actually, I am being myself right now and it’s horrible.”

“My God, I could raise a family of six children and hold down a full-time job with all the energy I expend on depression!”

“if only my whole life could be words and music, if only everything else could slip away.”

“In my case, I was not frightened in the least bit at the thought that I might live because I was certain, quite certain, that I was already dead. ”