There is a certain clinical satisfaction in seeing just how bad things can get.

It is awful to want to go away and to want to go nowhere.

I began to see why woman-haters could make such fools of women. Woman-haters were like gods: invulnerable and chock full of power. They descended, and then they disappeared. You could never catch one.

Why can’t I try on different lives, like dresses, to see which fits best and is more becoming?

I smile, now, thinking: we all like to think we are important enough to need psychiatrists

I sank back in the gray, plush seat and closed my eyes. The air of the bell jar wadded round me and I couldn't stir.

I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited.