Quotes By Letter: P

“The presence of another person - of any person whatsoever - instantly slows down my thinking, and while for a normal man contact with others is a stimulus to spoken expression and wit, for me it is a counterstimulus, if this compound word be linguistically permissible. When all by myself, I can think of all kinds of clever remarks, quick comebacks to what no one said, and flashes of witty sociability with nobody. But all of this vanishes when I face someone in the flesh: I lose my intelligence, I can no longer speak, and after half an hour I just feel tired. Yes, talking to people makes me feel like sleeping. Only my ghostly and imaginary friends, only the conversations I have in my dreams, are genuinely real and substantial, and in them intelligence gleams like an image in a mirror.

The mere thought of having to enter into contact with someone else makes me nervous. A simple invitation to have dinner with a friend produces an anguish in me that's hard to define. The idea of any social obligation whatsoever - attending a funeral, dealing with someone about an office matter, going to the station to wait for someone I know or don't know - the very idea disturbs my thoughts for an entire day, and sometimes I even start worrying the night before, so that I sleep badly. When it takes place, the dreaded encounter is utterly insignificant, justifying none of my anxiety, but next time is no different: I never learn to learn.”

-The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa

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“Living is entirely too time-consuming.”

-Irene Peter

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“Peter: You be quiet or I'll banish you just like Tink.
Wendy: I WILL NOT BE BANISHED.
Peter: Then leave. And take your feelings with you.”

-Peter Pan [movie]

Recommended by Britt.

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“I've felt like I'm dying but I'm still living
I'm longing for a better life but I'm already dead.”

-Post Umbra, Juan de Dios Peza

Recommended by Ivana.

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“Everybody knows that something's wrong
But nobody knows what's going on.”

-Lonely Day, Phantom Planet

Recommended by Corey.

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“I read somewhere that 77 per cent of all the mentally ill live in poverty. Actually, I'm more intrigued by the 23 per cent who are apparently doing quite well for themselves.”

-Emo Philips

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“We fuck,
In sadness,
A cold frustration.
Then we're fine,
For a while,
Our hearts adjacent.”

-Bad Patient, Piano Magic

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“It would solve a thousand problems if I rolled the Jeep over an embankment. It's not like I haven't thought about it, you know. On my license, it says I'm an organ donor, but the truth is I'd consider being an organ martyr. I'm sure I'm worth a lot more dead than alive- the sum of the parts equals more than the whole. I wonder who might wind up walking around with my liver, my lungs, even my eyeballs. I wonder what poor asshole would get stuck with whatever it is in me that passes for a heart”

-My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult

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“You might tell yourself that candor is the foundation of a relationship, but even that would be untrue. You are far more likely to lie to yourself, or your loved one, if you think it will keep the pain at bay.”

-Vanishing Act, Jodi Picoult

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“There's someone in my head but it's not me.”

-Brain Damage, Pink Floyd

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“There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.”

-Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd

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“Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall.”

-Hey You, Pink Floyd

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“If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes
You'll just have to claw your way through this disguise.”

-In The Flesh?, Pink Floyd

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“Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?”

-Is There Anybody Out There?, Pink Floyd

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“I've got a strong urge to fly.
But I got nowhere to fly to.”

-Nobody Home, Pink Floyd

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“And I can feel one of my turns coming on.
I feel cold as a razor blade,
Tight as a tourniquet,
Dry as a funeral drum.”

-One Of My Turns, Pink Floyd

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“I wanna go home,
Take off this uniform and leave the show,
But I'm waiting here in this cell because I have to know,
Have I been guilty all this time?”

-Stop, Pink Floyd

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“We all have a dark side, to say the least
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast.”

-The Dogs of War, Pink Floyd

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“I held the blade in trembling hands
Prepared to make it but just then the phone rang
I never had the nerve to make the final cut.”

-The Final Cut, Pink Floyd

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“This dream is driving me insane.”

-The Gunner's Dream, Pink Floyd

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“If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice.”

-The Thin Ice, Pink Floyd

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“And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?”

-Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd

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“We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.”

-Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd

Recommended by James.

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“Sometimes the insane and the contrarians and the ones who are closest to suicide are the most valuable people society has. They may be precursors of social change. They've taken the burdens of the culture onto themselves, and in their struggle to solve their own problems they're solving problems for the culture as well.”

-Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals, Robert M. Pirsig

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“To speak of certain government and establishment institutions as 'the system' is to speak correctly, since these organizations are founded upon the same structural relationships as a motorcycle. They are sustained by structural relationships even when they have lost all their meaning and purpose. People arrive at a factory and perform a totally meaningless task from eight to five without question because the structure demands that it be that way. There's no villain, no 'mean guy' who wants them to live meaningless lives, it's just that the structure, the system demands it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure just because it is meaningless.”

-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig

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