Quotes by Matthew Quick

It felt like so many years worth of anxiety and worry were trying to escape all at once—maybe like an emotional volcano, only my mom and dad, they didnt run away to save themselves but sprinted right into my lava.

Thats basically the mantra of Herr Silvermans teaching - think for yourself and do whats right for you, but let others do the same.

I knew that I had reached the end of childhood once I realized that adults in my life didnt know anymore than I did.

We really dont get to understand /why/ most of the time. Its true.

Remember – its a long race and you can always outwork talent in the end.

Nobody knows anything when they are in their midtwenties.

A lot of female teachers do this - flirt with male students. I wonder if thats the only way they know how to interact with men. Like they use their sexuality to get what they want.

...I am uncontrollable and dangerous. But of course I do not say this to Jake, mostly because he has never been locked up and doesnt understand what it feels like to lose control, and he only wants to watch the football game now, and none of this means anything to him, because he has never been married and he has never lost someone like Nikki and he is not trying to improve his life at all, because he doesnt ever feel the war that goes on in my chest every single fucking day--the chemical explosions that light up my skull like the Fourth of July and the awful needs and impulses and...

After I returned to New Jersey, I thought I was safe, because I did not think Kenny G could leave the bad place, which I realize is silly now - because Kenny G is extremely talented and resourceful and a powerful force to be reckoned with.

It felt like so many years worth of anxiety and worry were trying to escape all at once—maybe like an emotional volcano, only my mom and dad, they didnt run away to save themselves but sprinted right into my lava. They both jumped up off the couch and wrapped their arms around me even though it meant touching each other. We stayed like that for a long time, and it felt good—almost enough to justify everything that had precipitated it, but not quite.

The P-38 WWII Nazi handgun looks comical lying on the breakfast table next to a bowl of oatmeal.

Miracles happen on Christmas, Pat. Everybody knows that shit.

it’s a long race and you can always outwork talent in the end

Why didnt my father get to give Mom the fairy tale? Why do most people fail to give each other the fairy tale?

Youre different. And Im different too. Different is good. But different is hard. Believe me, I know.

He never once tells me what Tiffany thinks or what is going on in her heart: the awful feelings, the conflicting impulses, the needs, the desperation, everything that makes her different from Ronnie and Veronica, who have each other and their daughter, Emily, and a good income and a house and everything else that keeps people from calling them odd.

Mom could make small things seem miraculous. That was her talent.

She’s fulfilled her obligation, assuaged her conscience by finding me in the hallway and giving me the chance to freak out, and I’ve played my role too, by remaining calm, pretending to be okay, and therefore giving her permission to cross me off her things-to-do list. Now she can move on, and I can too.Once you understand how adults are controlled by the system, manipulating them is elementary.

When I was in high school, I used to have breakfast with my grandpa every morning. He instilled a lot of values in me: hard work, loyalty. He grew up during the Great Depression in Philly in poverty - he didnt have enough to eat as a kid. Sometimes his family would get kicked out of their apartment because they couldnt pay the rent.

The problem with the stigma around mental health is really about the stories that we tell ourselves as a society. What is normal? Thats just a story that we tell ourselves.