“I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“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, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“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, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“Its so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself. That's above and beyond everything else, and it's not a mental complaint-it's a physical thing, like it's physically hard to open your mouth and make the words come out. They don't come out smooth and in conjunction with your brain the way normal people's words do; they come out in chunks as if from a crushed-ice dispenser; you stumble on them as they gather behind your lower lip. So you just keep quiet.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I don't know how I can be so ambitious and so lazy at the same time.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I'm done with those; regrets are an excuse for people who have failed.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“Things to do today:
1) Breathe in.
2) Breathe out.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I'm fine. Well, I'm not fine - I'm here."
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"Absolutely.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“Dreams are only dreams until you wake up and make them real.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“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, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“Sometimes I just think depression's one way of coping with the world. Like, some people get drunk, some people do drugs, some people get depressed. Because there's so much stuff out there that you have to do something to deal with it.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I just want to not be me.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I'm smart but not enough--just smart enough to have problems.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“Life's not about feeling better, it's about getting the job done.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“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, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I’m not better, you know. The weight hasn’t left my head. I feel how easily I could fall back into it, lie down and not eat, waste my time and curse wasting my time, look at my homework and freak out and go and chill at Aaron’s, look at Nia and be jealous again, take the subway home and hope that it has an accident, go and get my bike and head to the Brooklyn Bridge. All of that is still there. The only thing is, it’s not an option now. It’s just… a possibility, like it’s a possibility that I could turn to dust in the next instant and be disseminated throughout the universe as an omniscient consciousness. It’s not a very likely possibility.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“That's all I can do. I'll keep at it and hope it gets better.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“Life can't be cured, but it can be managed.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“So why am I depressed? That's the million-dollar question, baby, the Tootsie Roll question; not even the owl knows the answer to that one. I don't know either. All I know is the chronology.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“Some of the most profound truths about us are things that we stop saying in the middle.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“(...) Since I was a kid."
"Which you refer to as 'back when you were happy.'"
"Right.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“What happened when you woke up?"
"I was having a dream. I don’t know what it was, but when I woke up, I had this awful realization that I was awake. It hit me like a brick in the groin."
"Like a brick in the groin, I see."
"I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare."
"And what is that nightmare, Craig?"
"Life."
"Life is a nightmare."
"Yes.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I should be a success and I'm not and other people- younger people- are. Younger people than me are on TV and getting their lives in order. I'm still a nobody. When am I going to not be a nobody?”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“No," mom says, looking at me in the eyes. "What's a triumph is that you woke up this morning and decided to LIVE. THAT'S a triumph. that's what you did today.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“I wanted to tell people, "My depression is acting up today" as an excuse for not seeing them, but I never managed to pull it off.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“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, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
“My family shouldn't have to put up with me. They're good people, solid, happy. Sometimes when I'm with them I think I'm on television.”
― Ned Vizzini, quote from It's Kind of a Funny Story
Ned Vizzini
Born place: in Brooklyn, New York, The United States
Born date April 4, 1981
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“[H]e could see the island of Manhattan off to the left. The towers were jammed together so tightly, he could feel the mass and stupendous weight.Just think of the millions, from all over the globe, who yearned to be on that island, in those towers, in those narrow streets! There it was, the Rome, the Paris, the London of the twentieth century, the city of ambition, the dense magnetic rock, the irresistible destination of all those who insist on being where things are happening-and he was among the victors!”
― Tom Wolfe, quote from The Bonfire of the Vanities
“Now tequila may be the favored beverage of outlaws but that doesn't mean it gives them preferential treatment. In fact, tequila probably has betrayed as many outlaws as has the central nervous system and dissatisfied wives. Tequila, scorpion honey, harsh dew of the doglands, essence of Aztec, crema de cacti; tequila, oily and thermal like the sun in solution; tequila, liquid geometry of passion; Tequila, the buzzard god who copulates in midair with the ascending souls of dying virgins; tequila, firebug in the house of good taste; O tequila, savage water of sorcery, what confusion and mischief your sly, rebellious drops do generate!”
― Tom Robbins, quote from Still Life with Woodpecker
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.”
― Stephen King, quote from On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“All those cities, all those fields and farms, with nobody, and nothing left alive. Just nothing there. I simply can't take it in.”
― Nevil Shute, quote from On the Beach
“We looked at each other for a minute, not saying anything, but I could feel the air between us shift. It became thick, sultry, and tangible—like when the air changes right before a storm. I could feel its power envelop me as it brushed across my skin. Even though I couldn’t see it, I knew a storm was coming.”
― Colleen Houck, quote from Tiger's Curse
The Darkness Dweller...
King Tomb
Soldier
North! or Be Eaten
The Iliad of Homer
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.
