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I can't eat and I can't sleep. I'm not doing well in terms of being a functional human, you know?
Ned Vizzini
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And that was the closest I've ever come to an epiphany.
Ned Vizzini
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I don't owe people anything, and I don't have to talk to them any more than I feel I need to.
Ned Vizzini
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I had fooled myself into thinking that I was something important to the rest of the world.
Ned Vizzini
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The absolute worst part of being depressed is the food. A person's relationship with food is one of their most important relationships. I don't think your relationship with your parents is that important. Some people never know their parents. I don't think your relationship with your friends are important. But your relationship with air-that's key. You can't break up with air. You're kind of stuck together. Only slightly less crucial is water. And then food. You can't be dropping food to hang with someone else. You need to strike up an agreement with it.
Ned Vizzini
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The stuff adults tell you not to do is the easiest.
Ned Vizzini
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They're sort of ancillary anyway, friends. I mean, they're important -- everybody knows that; the TV tells you so -- but they come and go. You lose one friend, you pick up another.
Ned Vizzini
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I eat not because I want to, not because I have to overcome anything, not to prove myself to anyone, but because it's there. I eat because that's what people do. And somehow when the food is put in front of you by an institution, when there's a large gray force behind it and you don't have to thank anyone for it, you have the animal instinct to make it disappear.
Ned Vizzini
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What am I always going to do? I'm going to go home and freak out.I'm going to sit with my family and try not to talk about myself and what's wrong. Im going to try and eat. Then I'm going to try and sleep. I dread it. I can't eat and I can't sleep. I'm not doing well in terms of being a functional human, you know?
Ned Vizzini
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Some days I woke up and got out of bed and brushed my teeth like any normal human being; some days I woke up and laid in bed and looked at the ceiling and wondered what the hell the point was of getting out of bed and brushing my teeth like any normal human being.
Ned Vizzini
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Ski. Sled. Play basketball. Jog. Run. Run. Run. Run home. Run home and enjoy. Enjoy. Take these verbs and enjoy them. They're yours, Craig. You deserve them because you chose them. You could have left them all behind but you chose to stay here. So now live for real, Craig. Live. Live. Live. Live. Live.
Ned Vizzini
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They always said on TV you could do anything you wanted, but here I was trying to do something and it wasn't working. I would never be able to do it.
Ned Vizzini
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See, when you mess something up, you learn for the next time. It's when people compliment you that you're in trouble. That means they expect you to keep it up.
Ned Vizzini
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That's the number one thing I hear about humans. You have all these choices, so you're confused all the time, and you think so much that you're never happy.
Ned Vizzini
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Do you even know who the enemy is?" "I think... it's me".
Ned Vizzini
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I waste at least an hour every day lying in bed. Then I waste time pacing. I waste time thinking. I waste time being quiet and not saying anything because I'm afraid I'll stutter.
Ned Vizzini
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I'm glad you came here and got the help you needed," Neil says, and he shakes my hand in that way that people do in here to remind themselves that you're the patient and they're the doctor/volunteer/ employee. They like you, and they genuinely want you to do better, but when they shake your hand you feel that distance, that slight disconnect because they know that you're still broken somewhere, that you might snap at any moment.
Ned Vizzini
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Life's not about feeling better, it's about getting the job done.
Ned Vizzini
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I owe her everything and I love her and I tell her these days, although every time I say it, it gets a little diluted. I think you run out of I love yous.
Ned Vizzini
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The Shift is coming. The Shift has to be coming. Because if you keep living like this you'll die.
Ned Vizzini
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Misfortune is no excuse for cruelty.
Ned Vizzini
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I'm fine. Well, I'm not fine - I'm here." "Is there something wrong with that?" "Absolutely.
Ned Vizzini
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I'm smart but not enough--just smart enough to have problems.
Ned Vizzini
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I'm done with those; regrets are an excuse for people who have failed.
Ned Vizzini
