“The insane are sane and the sane are insane in a world of craziness.”

Richard Besaw

“On my own body are scars that prove I belong to Christ Jesus. So I don't want anyone to bother me anymore.”

Galatians 6:17, The Bible Recommended by Suzanne.

“...to be abnormal is to be detested.”

The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce

“MAD, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; not conforming to standards of thought, speech and action derived by the conformants from study of themselves; at odds with the majority; in short, unusual. It is noteworthy that persons are pronounced mad by officials destitute of evidence that themselves are sane. For illustration, this present (and illustrious) lexicographer is no firmer in the faith of his own sanity than is any inmate of any madhouse in the land; yet for aught he knows to the contrary, instead of the lofty occupation that seems to him to be engaging his powers he may really be beating his hands against the window bars of an asylum and declaring himself Noah Webster, to the innocent delight of many thoughtless spectators”

The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce

“Why torture yourself when life will do it for you.”

Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even [movie] Recommended by Janna.

“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.”

Josh Billings

“They are almost well. Some of them will be almost well always.”

Evening in the Sanitarium, Elizabeth Bishop

“i'm back at my cliff
still throwing things off
i listen to the sounds they make
on their way down
i follow him with my eyes 'till they crash
imagine what my body would sound like
slamming against those rocks.”

Hyperballad, Björk

“I adore
Back of necks
Beautifully shaven

Gives me
Always, always, always, always ...
A pretty rush down my spine.”

My Spine, Björk

“This time I'm going to keep it all to myself
This time I'm going to keep me all to myself.”

Pagan Poetry, Björk

“it's sometimes just like sleeping
curling up
inside
my
private tortures
i nestle into pain
hug suffering
caress every ache

i play dead
it stops the hurting.”

Play Dead, Björk

“The flowers need watering
the silver needs a shine.
Daughter is a magnet
drawn back to where she was last safe.
She touches the tablecloth like a talisman.
Tell me who I was. Tell me what I've become.”

Mother Waits, Nicole Blackman

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

The Tyger, William Blake

“As does the pain of being alone, and the pain of keeping it all inside, and the pain of always feeling just short of adequate. As soon as the bell rings, she grabs her purse, the remainder of her belongings, and rushes to the bathroom. Stall door locked behind her, she hastily removes the pocket-sized fingernail clippers form the inside zipper pocket of her purse. With out hesitation, she viciously begins to slice away the skin on her wrists and arms, which already are decorated with scabs and scars from her last self-injury. To Heather, it's the only way she can gain some amount of control in her life. Tears didn't fill her eyes, no sound of pain was emitted. In fact, the only feeling she felt was control.

Infinite, absolute control.”

Amanda Blakely Recommended by Heather.

“He kissed me. A kiss about apple pie a la mode with the vanilla creaminess melting in the pie heat. A kiss about chocolate, when you haven't eaten chocolate in a year. A kiss about palm trees speeding by, trailing pink clouds when you drive down the Strip sizzling with champagne. A kiss about spotlights fanning the sky and the swollen sea spilling like tears all over your legs.”

Dangerous Angels, Francesca Lia Block

“Let's not be afraid of anything that can't really hurt us.”

Dangerous Angels, Francesca Lia Block

“Shadows nestled in his cheekbones, as if in love with them.”

I Was a Teenage Fairy, Francesca Lia Block

“She began to feel like the plastic doll she had been named after, without even a hole where her mouth was supposed to be.”

I Was a Teenage Fairy, Francesca Lia Block Recommended by Sibyl.

“My heart is a teacup with hairline cracks. I feel like I have to walk real carefully so it won't get shaken and just all shatter and break.”

Missing Angel Juan, Francesca Lia Block

“I will be thin and pure like a glass cup. Empty. Pure as light. Music. I move my hands over my body - my shoulders, my collarbone, my rib cage, my hip bones like part of an animal skull, my small thighs. In the mirror my face is pale and my eyes look bruised. My hair is pale and thin and the light comes through. I could be a lot younger than seventeen. I could be a child still, untouched.”

The Hanged Man, Francesca Lia Block

“I wanted to die, then. I wanted to destroy the body I was trapped in, become what she was, no matter what it took. No matter how much mutilation or pain. But he looked away, at me. He pulled my face down and pressed my lips against his like he was almost trying to suffocate us both.”

The Rose and the Beast: Fairyales Retold, Francesca Lia Block

“It's not that I literally think I'm a faerie. It's just that I feel so different from most people. And this idea of a race living underground in caverns, spending all their days dancing and playing the fiddle and eating flowers and reciting poetry and sharing their dreams, that to me sounds much more real than the way people live in this world, hating and fighting and wanting and hurting.”

Violet and Claire, Francesca Lia Block Recommended by Sibyl.

“That was when I cut my arms with a razor blade as a means of creative expression. I only did it lightly, just grazing the skin, to see the way the blood would bleed out, to make myself look tougher. Not like some of those kids who keep going deeper and deeper, wondering what they look like down to the bone, because it's a world that's so close and yet so far and so dangerous and so much their own. The only world that is their own.”

Violet and Claire, Francesca Lia Block Recommended by Sibyl.

“This was not a faerie tale. This was not the movies. This was life. It hurt more. It was excruciating. It was excruciatingly beautiful.”

Violet and Claire, Francesca Lia Block Recommended by trillianphoenix.

“'My pain is ugly, Angel Juan. I feel like I have so much ugly pain,' says Witch Baby in a dream.

'Everyone does,' Angel Juan says. 'My mother says that pain is hidden in everyone you see. She says try to imagine it like big bunches of flowers that everyone is carrying around with them. Think of your pain like a bunch of red roses, a beautiful thorn necklace. Everyone has one.'”

Witch Baby, Francesca Lia Block