Quotes from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“i held hands
with my sadness,
sang it songs in the shower,
fed it lunch,
got it drunk
& put it to bed early.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“mom says where did anxiety come from?
anxiety is the cousin visiting from out of town
depression felt obliged to bring to the party.
mom, i am the party.
only, i am a party i don't want to be at.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“mom still doesn't understand.

mom,
can't you see?
neither do i.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“how do i teach my ears to hear songs without the ghosts of you inside of them?”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“insomnia has this romantic way of making the moon feel like perfect company.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“mom, i am lonely.
i think i learnt it when dad left;
how to turn the anger into lonely,
the lonely into busy.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“my heart has developed a kind of amnesia, where it remembers everything but itself.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“i am sleepwalking on an ocean of happiness i cannot baptize myself in.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“when i see a candle, i see the flesh of a church.
the flicker of life sparks a memory younger than noon;
i am standing beside her open casket,
it is the moment i realize every person i ever come to know will someday die,
besides, mom, i'm not afraid of the dark,
perhaps that is part of the problem.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“it's weird how a jacket can be more reliable than a father.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“my happy is a high fever that will break, my happy is as hollow as a pin-pricked egg”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“& my heart has developed a kind of amnesia, where it remembers everything but itself.”
― Sabrina Benaim, quote from Depression & Other Magic Tricks

About the author

Popular quotes

“Dear Julie:
If I didn't feel that there is some good in your story, I wouldn't take the time to write a criticism of it. But there is some good in it, some points that make me feel that if you expend the effort(Look who's talking about expending the effort, I couldn't help thinking) you may well achieve your very worthy ambition.
First of all, you have an ear for cadence. Your sentences flow rather smoothly, and the continuity of your paragraphs is quite good.
Secondly, your imagery is sharp and clear-cut. I could smell that dank, rat-infested attic and I was more than a little in love with your pretty heroine by the time she emerged from her third paragraph. Furthermore, you occasionally achieve poetic effects which are pleasing.
But, my darling niece, your villains have nothing but venom in their souls, and your sympathetic characters are ready to step right off into Paradise without one spot to tarnish their purity. People aren't like that, Julie. Take a look around you.
Again, all your colors, your moods, your nusances, are essentially feminine, and it just doesn't ring true to be told that a man is responsible for them. No, Julie, it will be a long time before you speak and think and feel like an anguished old German musician of eighty! And, after all, what do you know about the problems of musical composition, or the life of an impoverised German laborer such as the landlord in his nineteenth-century environment? And how much do you know about sadism and brutality?
I must talk to you about any number of points. When you get home from school tomorrow, I shall have some recommendations to make; also some assignments. I am quite excited. It well may be that I have the making of a future writer in my hands.
Uncle Haskell”
― Irene Hunt, quote from Up a Road Slowly

“All the vital components that make a relationship successful, without any of the emotional messiness to drag it down. It's about respect, caring, and commitment. Shared goals and compatible priorities. It's about treating marriage like a partnership instead of some romantic fantasy. It's about two people liking each other.”
― Mira Lyn Kelly, quote from Waking Up Married

“I've been protecting you since I joined the Mauricio family. You were why I joined them in the first place.”
― Tijan, quote from Carter Reed

“He will talk to me a little while, too shy to tell me why he has come, and then he will thank me and leave, walking backward a few steps, thinking, Yes, the barn is still there, yes, the lilacs, even the pot of petunias. This was my father's house. And I will think, He is young. He cannot know that my whole like has come down to this moment.
That he has answered his father's prayers.”
― Marilynne Robinson, quote from Home

“I can feel their Threads waiting.”
― Susan Dennard, quote from Truthwitch

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.