Ned Vizzini Quotes

“(…) Since I was a kid."
"Which you refer to as 'back when you were happy.'"
"Right.”

“It’s tough to get out of bed; I know that myself. You can lie there for an hour and a half without thinking anything, just worrying about what the day holds and knowing that you won’t be able to deal with it.”

“The Shift hasn't happened yet, maybe it never will, but sometimes-just enough times to give me hope-my brain jars back into where it's supposed to be.”

“Dr. Barney stared at me, his lips puckered. What was he so serious about? Who hasn’t thought about killing themselves, as a kid? How can you grow up in this world and not think about it?”

“I have a system with bathrooms. I spend a lot of time in them. They are sanctuaries, public places of peace spaced throughout the world for people like me.”

“I waste at least an hour every day lying in bed. Then I waste time pacing. I waste time thinking. I waste time being quiet and not saying anything because I'm afraid I'll stutter.”

“I had fooled myself into thinking that I was something important to the rest of the world.”

“My family shouldn't have to put up with me. They're good people, solid, happy. Sometimes when I'm with them I think I'm on television.”

“We look into each other's eyes as we shake. His are still full of death and horror, but in them I see my face reflected, and inside my tiny eyes inside his, I think I see some hope.”

“I found myself jealous of the people who wrote the books. They were dead and they were still taking up my time. Who did they think they were?”

“People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode.”

“See, when you mess something up, you learn for the next time. It's when people compliment you that you're in trouble. That means they expect you to keep it up.”

“It's when people compliment you that you're in trouble. That means they expect you to keep it up.”

“I should be a success and I'm not and other people- younger people- are. Younger people than me are on TV and getting their lives in order. I'm still a nobody. When am I going to not be a nobody?”

“I don't owe people anything, and I don't have to talk to them any more than I feel I need to.”

“I don't know how I can be so ambitious and so lazy at the same time.”

“I'm done with those; regrets are an excuse for people who have failed.”

“I'm fine. Well, I'm not fine - I'm here."
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"Absolutely.”

“Dreams are only dreams until you wake up and make them real.”

“Sometimes I just think depression's one way of coping with the world. Like, some people get drunk, some people do drugs, some people get depressed. Because there's so much stuff out there that you have to do something to deal with it.”

“I just want to not be me.”

“I'm smart but not enough--just smart enough to have problems.”

“Life's not about feeling better, it's about getting the job done.”

“That's all I can do. I'll keep at it and hope it gets better.”

“Life can't be cured, but it can be managed.”

“So why am I depressed? That's the million-dollar question, baby, the Tootsie Roll question; not even the owl knows the answer to that one. I don't know either. All I know is the chronology.”

“Some of the most profound truths about us are things that we stop saying in the middle.”

“Life is a nightmare.”

“No," mom says, looking at me in the eyes. "What's a triumph is that you woke up this morning and decided to LIVE. THAT'S a triumph. that's what you did today.”

“Depression starts slow.”

“The stuff adults tell you not to do is the easiest.”

“I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of living.”

“Sometimes when you open a book, time stops.”

“I want to live but I want to die. What do I do?”

“That made me happy. That was my Anchor.”

“She doesn't want to end up like me. At least I'm giving someone an example not to follow.”

“And I could have died right then. And considering how things went, I really should have.”

“I feel dead, wasted, awful, broken and useless. It's not the kind of feeling you forget.”

“The Shift is coming. The Shift has to be coming. Because if you keep living like this you'll die.”

“You want to play video games twenty-four hours a day?"
"Or watch. I just want to not be me. Whether it's sleeping or playing video games or riding my bike or studying. Giving my brain up. That's what's important.”

“deep down I believe my year was a special year: it produced me.”

“I like how you don't hide your problems like everyone else, and I don't have to hide mine when I'm around you.”

“It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare, you're so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare."
"And what is that nightmare, Craig?"
"Life.”

“I don't-" I shake my head. (…)
"What? What were you going to say?" This is another trick of shrinks. They never let you stop in midthought. If you open your mouth, they want to know exactly what you had the intention of saying.”

“They've spent alot of money on me. I'm ashamed.”

“Take these verbs and enjoy them. They're yours, Craig. You deserve them because you chose them. You could have left them all behind but you chose to stay here.”

“Every tounge bit had another word to say.”

“And when you say the truth you get stronger.”

“It's such a silly little thing, the heart.”

“So now live for real, Craig. Live. Live. Live. Live.”

“And I mouth into the phone,, in case some of her cells pick up on the vibrations and it serves me well in the next life. If there is one. If there is a next life, I hope it's in the past; I don't think the future will be any more handleable.”

“My brain was all right back then; it didn't get stuck in ruts.”

“You all right, man?'
This should be my name. I could be like a super hero: You All Right Man.
Ah…' I stumble.
Don't bug Craig,' Ronny is like. 'He's in the Craig zone. He's Craig-ing out.”

“You shouldn't be able to be alive and you are. You want to trade?”

“Sometimes I wish I had an easy answer for why I'm depressed.”

“A person's relationship with food is one of their most important relationships.”

“One thing I've learnt recently: how to think nothing. Here's the trick: don't have any interest in the world around you, don't have any hope for the future, and be warm.”

“Everybody has problems. Some people just hide their crap better than others.”

“I had hurt her feelings, I found out later; I didn’t know I had that power.”

“And that was the closest I've ever come to an epiphany.”

“They always said on TV you could do anything you wanted, but here I was trying to do something and it wasn't working. I would never be able to do it.”

“It’s a huge thing, this Shift, just as big as I imagined. My brain doesn’t want to think anymore; all of a sudden it wants to do.”

“She's pretty." (It's amazing how girls can say this and make it the most withering insult.)”

“I owe her everything and I love her and I tell her these days, although every time I say it, it gets a little diluted. I think you run out of I love yous.”

“I've had good moments scattered since then, times when I thought I was better, but that was the last day I felt triumphant.”

“That's what gets me through the day. Knowing that I could do it. That I'm strong enough to do it and I can get it done.”