We know we need, and so we acquire and eat and eat, past the point of bodily fullness, trying to sate a greater need. Ashamed of this, we turn skeletons into goddesses and look to them as if they might teach us how to not-need.

The anoretic operates under the astounding illusion that she can escape the flesh, and, by association, the realm of emotions.

I think many people with a chronic illness would prefer not to have their chronic illness, simply because it's high maintenance.

There is, in fact, an incredible freedom in having nothing left to lose.

My parents say that even as a very, very little kid, the way that I acted was dramatically different from other little kids.

Anorexia and bulimia seem to be getting much more common in boys, men, and women of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds; they are also becoming more common in racial groups previously thought to be impervious to the problem.

I do have faith. I don't have faith that a God exists, nor do I have faith that one does not; I have absolute faith that I do not know, cannot know, am only human, am an infinitesimal creature packed onto a cramped planet crowded with seven billion bodies, and as many yearning hearts, and as many questioning minds.