One of the things that frequently gets lost in descriptions of depression is that the depressed person often knows that it is a ludicrous condition to feel so disabled by the ordinary business of quotidian life.

Then I repeated these words to my spirits: 'Leave me be; give me peace; and let me do the work of my life. I will never forget you.' Something about that incantation was particularly appealing to me. 'I will never forget you'-- as though one had to address the pride of the spirits, as though one wanted them to feel good about being exorcised.

We cannot bear a pointless torment, but we can endure great pain if we believe that it's purposeful.

It is easy to keep secrets by being honest in an ironic tone of voice.

I did grow up in a household in which I felt that to be myself was to damage the people I loved.

Oppression breeds the power to oppose it.

Psychologically, I will not have to seek far if I decide to kill myself, because in my mind and heart I am more ready for this than for the unplanned daily tribulations that mark off the mornings and afternoons.