β
People aren't either wicked or noble. They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #11))
β
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
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β
Henri J.M. Nouwen (Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life)
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Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.
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β
Paulo Coelho
β
Every now and then I like to do as I'm told, just to confuse people.
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Tamora Pierce (Melting Stones (The Circle Reforged, #2))
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May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.
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George Carlin
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I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till i drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.
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Jack Kerouac
β
Patience, grasshopper," said Maia. "Good things come to those who wait."
"I always thought that was 'Good things come to those who do the wave,'" said Simon. "No wonder I've been so confused all my life.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
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It hurts to let go. Sometimes it seems the harder you try to hold on to something or someone the more it wants to get away. You feel like some kind of criminal for having felt, for having wanted. For having wanted to be wanted. It confuses you, because you think that your feelings were wrong and it makes you feel so small because it's so hard to keep it inside when you let it out and it doesn't coma back. You're left so alone that you can't explain. Damn, there's nothing like that, is there? I've been there and you have too. You're nodding your head.
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β
Henry Rollins (The Portable Henry Rollins)
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French name, English accent, American school. Anna confused.
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Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1))
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We must never confuse elegance with snobbery
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β
Yves Saint-Laurent
β
Don't be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.
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β
George Saunders (The Braindead Megaphone)
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The most confused we ever get is when we're trying to convince our heads of something our heart knows is a lie.
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Karen Marie Moning
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It was one of those humid days when the atmosphere gets confused. Sitting on the porch, you could feel it: the air wishing it was water.
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Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex)
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Never confuse movement with action.
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Ernest Hemingway
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Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from themβif you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.
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β
J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)
β
Sometimes, the wicked will tell us things just to confuse usβto haunt our thoughts long after we've faced them.
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Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1))
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Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
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β
F. Scott Fitzgerald
β
Eragon looked back at him, confused. "I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," said Brom impatiently. "That's why I'm teaching you and not the other way around.
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β
Christopher Paolini (Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1))
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I am both happy and sad at the same time, and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.
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Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)
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I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed.
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Robert Frost
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It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.
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J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)
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It wasn't only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you.
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Ian McEwan (Atonement)
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I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears?
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Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak)
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Never hide things from hardcore thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths.
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Criss Jami
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You get confused by crying women, I get confused by walks with princes.
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Kiera Cass (The Selection (The Selection, #1))
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I shiver, thinking how easy it is to be totally wrong about people-to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it's the effect or vice versa
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Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)
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Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.
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Fyodor Dostoevsky
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I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.
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Jack Kerouac
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She didn't say it, I only thought she said it. So really it was my thought, my words, and not hers. How could I confuse "I love you" with "May I take your order?
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Jarod Kintz (Love quotes for the ages. Specifically ages 18-81.)
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I'm trying to think, don't confuse me with facts.
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Plato
β
They turned to Angel. "We will call you Little One," the leader said, obviously deciding to dispense with the whole confusing name thing.
"Okay," said Angel agreeably. "I'll call you Guy in a White Lab Coat." He frowned.
"That can be his Indian name," I suggested.
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James Patterson (Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Maximum Ride, #3))
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There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mindβ¦
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F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)
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I couldnβt forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisyβthey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)
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Don't confuse poor decision-making with destiny. Own your mistakes. Itβs ok; we all make them. Learn from them so they can empower you!
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Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
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The most confused you will ever get is when you try to convince your heart and spirit of something your mind knows is a lie.
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Shannon L. Alder
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I try to stay in a constant state of confusion just because of the expression it leaves on my face.
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Johnny Depp
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There is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot.
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S.M. Stirling
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You look confused," said Adrian.
I shook my head and sighed. "I think I'm just overthinking things."
He nodded solemnly. "That's why I try to never do it.
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Richelle Mead (Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1))
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Girls are always talking about electricity in their romance, but none are too happy to actually be electrocuted, apparently. Bloody confusing, is what it is.
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Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1))
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I never thought about it before, but I'm proud to be human. We're ever so flawed. We're frail, confused, violent, and we struggle with so many issues. But all in all, I'm proud to be a Daughter of Man.
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Susan Ee (Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1))
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Like all dreamers I confuse disenchantment with truth.
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Jean-Paul Sartre
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You are at once both the quiet and the confusion of my heart.
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Franz Kafka
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Haters are confused admirers who canβt understand why everybody else likes you
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Paulo Coelho
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I raise my left arm and twist my neck down to rip off the pill on my sleeve. Instead my teeth sink into flesh. I yank my head back in confusion to find myself looking into Peetaβs eyes, only now they hold my gaze. Blood runs from the teeth marks on the hand he clamped over my nightlock.
βLet me go!β I snarl at him, trying to wrest my arm from his grasp.
βI canβt,β he says.
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Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
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Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself. Impossible. Confusing. Frustrating ... but there are other ways to understanding.
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Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1))
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The girl is infectious human waste, and she's confused and afraid to commit to the wrong thing and so she won't commit to anything.
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Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club)
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Kai cleared his throat. Stood straighter. "I assume you are going to the ball?"
"I-I don't know. I mean, no. No, I'm sorry, I'm not going to the ball."
Kai drew back, confused. "Oh well... but... maybe you would change your mind? Because I am, you know."
"The prince."
"Not bragging," he said quickly. "Just a fact.
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Marissa Meyer (Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1))
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Why do we smile? Why do we laugh? Why do we feel alone? Why are we sad and confused? Why do we read poetry? Why do we cry when we see a painting? Why is there a riot in the heart when we love? Why do we feel shame? What is that thing in the pit of your stomach called desire?
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Benjamin Alire SΓ‘enz (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1))
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And I can't be running back and fourth forever between grief and high delight.
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J.D. Salinger (Franny and Zooey)
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The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.
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Pema ChΓΆdrΓΆn
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Every time you
tell your daughter
you yell at her
out of love
you teach her to confuse
anger with kindness
which seems like a good idea
till she grows up to
trust men who hurt her
cause they look so much
like you.
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Rupi Kaur
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America, my love, you are sunlight falling through trees. You are laughter that breaks through sadness. You are the breeze on a too-war day. You are clarity in the midst of confusion.
You are not the world, but you are everything that makes the world good. Without you, my life would still exist, but that's all it would manage to do.
You said that to get things right one of us would have to take a leap of faith. I think I've discovered the canyon that must be leaped, and I hope to find you waiting for me on the other side.
I love you, America.
Yours forever,
Maxon
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Kiera Cass (The One (The Selection, #3))
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Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.
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Melody Beattie
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In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply canβt build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
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Anne Frank (The Diary of a Young Girl)
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Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love β for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
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Max Ehrmann (Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life)
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Whatever happens, they say afterwards, it must have been fate. People are always a little confused about this, as they are in the case of miracles. When someone is saved from certain death by a strange concatenation of circumstances, they say that's a miracle. But of course if someone is killed by a freak chain of events -- the oil spilled just there, the safety fence broken just there -- that must also be a miracle. Just because it's not nice doesn't mean it's not miraculous.
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Terry Pratchett (Interesting Times (Discworld, #17; Rincewind, #5))
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Isabelle snorted. 'All the boys are gay. In this truck, anyway. Well, not you, Simon.'
'You noticed' said Simon.
'I think of myself as a freewheeling bisexual,' added Magnus.
'Please never say those words in front of my parents,' said Alec. 'Especially my father.'
'I thought your parents were okay with you, you know, coming out,' Simon said, leaning around Isabelle to look at Alec, who was β as he often was β scowling, and pushing his floppy dark hair out of his eyes. Aside from the occasional exchange, Simon had never talked to Alec much. He wasnβt an easy person to get to know. But, Simon admitted to himself, his own recent estrangement from his mother made him more curious about Alecβs answer than he would have been otherwise.
'My mother seems to have accepted it,' Alec said. 'But my father β no, not really. Once he asked me what I thought had turned me gay.'
Simon felt Isabelle tense next to him. 'Turned you gay?' She sounded incredulous. 'Alec, you didnβt tell me that.'
'I hope you told him you were bitten by a gay spider,' said Simon.
Magnus snorted; Isabelle looked confused. 'Iβve read Magnusβs stash of comics,' said Alec, 'so I actually know what youβre talking about' A small smile played around his mouth. 'So would that give me the proportional gayness of a spider?'
'Only if it was a really gay spider,' said Magnus, and he yelled as Alec punched him in the arm. 'Ow, okay, never mind.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
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I love you. I hate you. I like you. I hate you. I love you. I think youβre stupid. I think youβre a loser. I think youβre wonderful. I want to be with you. I donβt want to be with you. I would never date you. I hate you. I love youβ¦..I think the madness started the moment we met and you shook my hand. Did you have a disease or something?
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Shannon L. Alder
β
We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infintesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality. We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is. We are sick with a fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas.
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Alan W. Watts
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There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness. When you're high it's tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty. There are interests found in uninteresting people. Sensuality is pervasive and the desire to seduce and be seduced irresistible. Feelings of ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence, and euphoria pervade one's marrow. But, somewhere, this changes. The fast ideas are far too fast, and there are far too many; overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friends' faces are replaced by fear and concern. Everything previously moving with the grain is now against-- you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of the mind. You never knew those caves were there. It will never end, for madness carves its own reality.
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Kay Redfield Jamison (An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness)