“Beneath the good and the kind and the stupid and the cruel
There's a fire that's just waiting for fuel.”

Fuel, Ani DiFranco Recommended by ariasna.

“Regretfully, I guess I've only got three simple things to say:
Why me? Why this now? Why this way?
With overtones ringing and undertows pulling away
Under a sky that is grey on sand that is grey, by an ocean that's grey.”

Grey, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“The sky is grey, the sand is grey, and the ocean is grey
And I feel right at home in this stunning monochrome, alone in my way.”

Grey, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“Everything I do is judged, and they mostly get it wrong, but oh well
'Cause the bathroom mirror has not budged and the woman who lives there can
tell
The truth from the stuff that they say, and she looks me in the eye
And says 'Would you prefer the easy way? No? Well, okay then, don't cry.'”

Joyful Girl, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“i am not an angry girl
but it seems like
i've got everyone fooled
every time i say something
they find hard to hear
they chalk it up to my anger
never to their own fear
imagine you're a girl
just trying to finally come clean
knowing full well they'd prefer
you were dirty
and smiling.”

not a pretty girl, Ani DiFranco

“this is who I am
what I do
and what I say
if you like it, let it be
if you don't, please do the same.”

Pick Yer Nose, Ani DiFranco

“And you're trying hard to figure out
Just exactly how you feel
Before you end up parked and sobbing
Forehead on the steering wheel.”

So What, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“I am out here studying stones, trying to learn to be less alive
Using all of my will to keep very still, still even on the inside.”

Studying Stones, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“I know that sometimes all I can see is how I feel
Like the whole world is on the other side of a dirty windshield
And I am trying to see through the glare
Yeah I'm struggling just to see what is there.”

Virtue, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“I don't think I am strong enough to do this much longer - God I wish I was
stronger
This song can never be long enough to express every longing - God I wish it
was longer.”

Wish I May, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“I gotta suck it up and savour the taste of my own behaviour
I am spinning with longing faster then a roulette wheel
This is not who I meant to be, this is not how I meant to feel.”

Wish I May, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“I'm losing my love of adventure, I'm losing all respect for me and myself
tonight
I wonder what happens if I get to the end of this tunnel and there isn't a
light
I've worn down the treads on all of my tires, i've worn through the elbows
and the knees of my clothing
And I'm staring down the gravel driveway of desire trying not to wake up my
sleeping self loathing.”

Wish I May, Ani DiFranco Recommended by Shay.

“If ever I would stop thinking about music and politics
I might be able to listen in silence to your concerns
rather than hearing everything as an accusation
or an indictment against me

I would tell you that sometimes
I use sex to avoid communication
it's the best escape when we're down on our luck
But I can express more emotions than laughter, anger
and let's fuck.”

If ever I would stop thinking about music and politics, Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy

“All my life I've lived in silence
I'm gonna snap!”

Sick Of It All, The Distillers Recommended by Gwen.

“I'm a girl
I'm only thirteen
My body rots
Cause I won't fucking eat
I'm a silent star on the b-roll
I'm a mirror fucking image of no control
Give me an award
I conquered food again
What else is better in life than to purge my pain?
If I cut, I won't look like that
If I cut, If I cut,
I won't feel like this shit.”

Sick Of It All, The Distillers Recommended by Gwen.

“Her pure and eloquent blood
Spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought,
That one might almost say, her body thought.”

Of The Progress of The Soul: The Second Anniversary, John Donne

“Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get--a cold, sick feeling deep down inside--when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were.”

A Northern Light, Jennifer Donnelly

“Dr. Thurman: Do you feel alone right now?

Donnie: Oh, I don't know. I mean, I'd like to believe I'm not, but I just, I've just never seen any proof. So, I... I just don't debate it anymore, y'know? It's like, I could spend my whole life debating it over and over again, weighing the pros and cons, and in the end, I still wouldn't have any proof. So, I just, I just don't debate it anymore. It's absurd.

Dr. Thurman: The search for God is absurd?

Donnie: It is if everyone dies alone.”

Donnie Darko [movie]

“It's a burden to us even to be human beings–men with our own real body and blood; we are ashamed of it, we think it a disgrace and try to contrive to be some sort of impossible generalized man.”

Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky

“I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it - there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

A Study in Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“Perhaps the rare and simple pleasure of being seen for what one is, compensates for the misery of being it.”

Margaret Drabble

“biting keeps your words at bay
tending to the sores that stay
happiness is just a gash away
when i open a familiar scar
pain goes shooting like a star
comfort hasn't failed to follow so far...

and you might say it's self-indulgent
you might say its self-destructive
but, you see, it's more productive
than if i were to be healthy

& pens and penknives take the blame
crane my neck & scratch my name
but the ugly marks
are worth the momentary gain...
when i jab a sharpened object in
choirs of angels seem to sing
hymns of hate in memorandum

and you might say it's self-indulgent
and you might say it's self-destructive
but, you see, it's more productive
than if i were to be happy

and sappy songs about sex and cheating
bland accounts of two lovers meeting
make me want to give mankind a beating

and you might say it's self-destructive
but, you see, i'd kick the bucket
sixty times before i'd kick the habit

and as the skin rips off i cherish the revolting thought
that even if i quit
there's not a chance in hell i'd stop
and anyone can see the signs
mittens in the summertime
thank you for your pity, you are too kind

and you might say its self-inflicted
but you see that's contradictive
why on earth would anyone practice self destruction?

and pain opinions are sitcom feeding
they dont know that their minds are teething
makes me want to give mankind a beating

i'm tried bandages and sinking
i've tried gloves and even thinking
i've tried vaseline
i've tried everything
and no-one cares if your back is bleeding
they're concerned with their hair receding
looking back it was all maltreating
every thought that occurred misleading

makes me want to give myself a beating....”

Bad Habit, The Dresden Dolls

“you can tell
from the scars on my arms
and cracks in my hips
and the dents in my car
and the blisters on my lips
that i'm not the carefullest of girls

you can tell
from the glass on the floor
and the strings that're breaking
and i keep on breaking more
and it looks like i am shaking
but it's just the temperature
and then again
if it were any colder i could disengage
if i were any older i could act my age
but i dont think that youd believe me
it's
not
the
way
i'm
meant
to
be
it's just the way the operation made me.”

Girl Anachronism, The Dresden Dolls Recommended by Alyx.

“I don't need you to breathe
I have fallen down but I've landed on my feet
And I hear the sound of my own sweet voice and it's a scream.”

Breathe, Randi Driscoll Recommended by Shay.

“Very early in my life it was much too late.”

The Lover, Marguerite Duras