Thus I became a madman.
And I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.
But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief.
Introduction
The Madman (1918)
“That boy hardly needed a mask when his naked face was already impenetrable.”
Source: We Need to Talk About Kevin
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Lionel Shriver 34
American writer 1957Related quotes
In a letter to Ada Leverson [Sphinx] recorded in her book Letters To The Sphinx From Oscar Wilde and Reminiscences of the Author (1930)
“When death captures me," the boy vowed, "he will feel my fist in his face." (31.26)”
Source: The Book Thief
“When you can't do anything else to a boy, you can make him wash his face.”
Travel Letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913), p120.
“Are we not like that actor of old time,
Who wore his mask so long his face took
Its likeness?”
A Summer Evening’s Tale
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)