It takes time.” – 164. “There are no windows within the dark house of depression through which to see others, only mirrors.” – 206. “Even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.” — 121.

Just like the Cheshire cat, someday I will suddenly leave, but the artificial warmth of my smile, that phony, clownish curve, the kind you see on miserably sad people and villains in Disney movies, will remain behind as an ironic remnant.I am the girl you see in the photograph from some party someplace or some picnic in the park, the one who is in fact soon to be gone. “Just remember that the darkest night did not turn out all the stars.” –212.

I am happy to be sad.”― 250. “Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. “One of the most healing things you can do is recognize where in your life you are your own poison.” – 198.

People cannot abide being around you when you are depressed. “Promise me you’ll always remember — you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — 132. Act your old age. And it’s so simple to imagine that one is hard done by, and that things are unfair, and that one is underappreciated, and that if only one had had a chance at this, only one had had a chance at that, things would have gone better, you would be happier if only this, that one is unlucky.All those things.

That last quote expresses an idea that I want to underscore.

“It’s hard to part the curtains when the dark holds such familiarity.”― 152. I know these guys very well.” ― 79. “Depression is feeling like you’ve lost something but having no clue when or where you last had it. “Depression doesn’t take away your talents—it just makes them harder to find.” — 236. This is quite wrong.” ― 36. No matter how hard things were, tomorrow is a fresh opportunity to make it better.” – 182. “The mind is everything. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” — 116. “I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” — 124. I am inadequate and stupid, without worth. One is not helpless.”82. “The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God.” ― 23. I’ve made that commitment for my life’s sake and for the sake of those who love me.” – 219.

I can read this for hours to learn and understand. Depression is very different.” ― 8. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather.” –229.

For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you’ve just wandered off the path, that you’ll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. You can be in a huge crowd, but if you don’t feel like you can trust anyone or talk to anybody, you feel like you’re really alone.” ― 5. “Some friends don’t understand this.

“I don’t want any more of this try, try again stuff. “It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.”— 170. “It’s not all bad. “One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.” ― 10. “I’m not grateful for depression, but it honestly made me work harder and gave me the drive that I have to succeed and to make it work.” – 30.
“I disliked myself so intensely. It is more like a cancer: At first its tumorous mass is not even noticeable to the careful eye, and then one day — wham! That’s pretty heavy. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.” ― 143. Who looks outside, dreams.

You were never in control anyway.” — 173.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – 159. “You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. “There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.” — Ella Wheeler Wilcox193. Those devils have been my angels. That is 17 years past 50.

Your chemistry is not your character.” — 123. They might think that they ought to, and they might even try, but you know and they know that you are tedious beyond belief: you are irritable and paranoid and humorless and lifeless and critical and demanding and no reassurance is ever enough.You’re frightened, and you’re frightening, and you’re “not at all like yourself but will be soon,” but you know you won’t.”33. “You’re like a grey sky. “It’s my experience that people are a lot more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease just to make it easier on me and also on them.” ― 45.


“I’ll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. That’s worse than having the brain thing, because what you got now will take a lot longer to kill you.

“Depression is not madness, it’s just depression, the loser version, the low-energy response to bad stuff that happens in your life. “The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one.