“Our hospital was famous and housed many great poets and singers. Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers or was it that poets and singers specialized in madness?”

“How the fuck else am I going to get any attention in this place?"Lisa always called the hospital 'this place.”

“For many of us, the hospital was as much a refuge as it was a prison. Though we were cut off from the world and all the trouble we enjoyed stirring up out there, we were also cut off from the demands and expectations that had driven us crazy. What could be expected of us now that we were stowed away in a loony bin?”

“Lunatics are similar to designated hitters. Often an entire family is crazy, but since an entire family can't go into the hospital, one person is designated as crazy and goes inside. Then, depending on how the rest of the family is feeling that person is kept inside or snatched out, to prove something about the family's mental health.”

“What is it about meter and cadence and rhythm that makes their makers mad?”

“I think many people ill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won't.”

“I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won't.”