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Susanna Kaysen

Susanna Kaysen Quotes

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Famous Susanna Kaysen Quotes

“It's important to cultivate detachment. One way to do this is to practice imagining yourself dead, or in the process of dying. If there's a window, you must imagine your body falling out the window. If there's a knife, you must imagine the knife piercing your skin. If there's a train coming, you must imagine your torso flattened under its wheels. These exercises are necessary to achieving the proper distance.”

IfsWayImportantBodyFallProcessPracticeImagineAchieveDyingWindowSkinsDistanceTrainYour BodyOne WayWheelsEmptinessKnivesDetachmentNumbnessPiercingsTorsoGirl InterruptedImagining Yourself
Author:Susanna Kaysen
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“Suicide is a form of murder - premeditated murder. It isn't something you do the first time you think of doing it. It takes getting used to. And you need the means, the opportunity, the motive. A successful suicide demands good organization and a cool head, both of which are usually incompatible with the suicidal state of mind.”

ThinkingNeedsMindFirstsMeanStatesFormUsedOpportunitySuccessfulDemandFirst TimeOrganizationMurderSuicideMotiveState Of MindSuicidalGirl InterruptedGood Organization
Author:Susanna Kaysen
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“The debate was wearing me out. Once you've posed that question, it won't go away. I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won't. Anything I thought or did was immediately drawn into the debate. Made a stupid remark--why not kill myself? Missed the bus--better put an end to it all. Even the good got in there. I liked that movie--maybe I shouldn't kill myself.”

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Author:Susanna Kaysen
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“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.”

PersonsFeelingsCrazyProveDepressionMental HealthHospitalsGirl InterruptedDesignated Hitter
Book:Girl, Interrupted
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“Twenty aspirin, a little slit alongside the veins of the arm, maybe even a bad half hour standing on a roof: We've all had those. And somewhat more dangerous things, like putting a gun in your mouth. But you put it there, you taste it, it's cold and greasy, your finger is on the trigger, and you find that a whole world lies between this moment and the moment you've been planning, when you'll pull the trigger. That world defeats you. You put the gun back in the drawer. You'll have to find another way.”

WorldWayLittlesWholeMomentsLyingHoursHalfDangerousArmsColdTasteMouthsGunStandingTwentiesFingersDefeatPlanningWhole WorldRoofVeinsAnother WayTriggersDangerous ThingsDrawersHalf HoursSlitsAspirinGirl Interrupted
Book:Girl, Interrupted
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“This time I read the title of the painting: Girl Interrupted at Her Music. Interrupted at her music: as my life had been, interrupted in the music of being seventeen, as her life had been, snatched and fixed on canvas: one moment made to stand still and to stand for all the other moments, whatever they would be or might have been. What life can recover from that?”

Has BeensMadeStillsMomentsMightWould BeGirlPaintingTitlesFixedCanvasMight Have BeenInterruptedSeventeenGirl Interrupted
Author:Susanna Kaysen
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