Veronika Decides to Die by Coelho
These are my favorite lines from the book which also led me to implement one of the craziest things I've done in my life:
Veronika: "When I took the pills, I wanted to kill someone I hated. I didn't know that other Veronikas existed inside me, Veronikas I could love."
"There is always a gap between intention and action."
"Nothing in this world happen by chance."
"Each person knows the extent of their suffering or the total absence of meaning in their lives."
"[We are one of those] ...people who have all the same vacant look but pretend to be pondering on extremely important matters."
Veronika: "And it has nothing to do with what you can see happening in my body, it's what's happening in my soul."
"People she knew would talk about the horrors in other people's lives as if they were genuinely trying to help them, but the truth was that they took pleasure in the suffering of others because that made them believe they were happy and that life had been generous with them."
"Anyone who lives in her own world is crazy."
"I want to continue being crazy, living my life the way I dream it and not the way other people want it to be."
"They [people] think they are normal, because they all do the same thing."
"That display of exuberance in which I could not participate was somehow unfair."
"The insane always believe in first impressions."
"Real love changes and grows with time and discover new ways of expressing itself."
"When the days are all the same, they pass more quickly."
"Friendship requires a lot of time spent together."
"Personal growth has its price."
"Did I fight hard enough? Should I have accepted my role as mistress rather than wanting things go as expected them to?"
"People never learn anything by being told; they have to find out for themselves."
"Insanity is the inability to communicate your ideas."
"She had never had enough energy to be herself, a person who like, everyon else in the world, needed other people in order to be happy. But other people were so difficult. They reacted in unpredictable ways, they surrounded themselves with defensive walls, they behaved as she did, pretending they didn't care about anything."
"Hatred. Something almost as physical as walls, pianos or nurses."
"Insanity allows people to feel things that people usually hide."
"Veronika hated the love she had given because it had asked for nothing in return, which was absurd, unreal and againt the laws of nature. That love asking for nothing in return had managed to fill her with guilt, with a desire to fulfill another's expectations even if that meant giving up everything she had dreamed of for herself. It was a love that for years had tried to hide from her the difficulties and the corruption that existed in the world, ignoring the fact that one day, she would have to find out and would then be defenseless against them."
"Present: where all the life's secret lie."
"She had actually felt them [hatred], and they were no longer necessary, they could leave."
"Letting love fill up the empty space left behind by hatred."
"The best way to avoid trouble is to share responsibility."
"The happier people can be, the unhappier they are."
"People only go insane when they try to escape from routine."
"Living a thousand deaths everyday, every night and not one of you feels an ounce of pity for me."
"A schizophrenic is a person who already has a natural tendency to absent himself from this world, creating his own reality."
"[Reality is] It's whatever the majority deems it to be."
"I should have been crazier." But, as it undoubtedly hapens with most people, she had found this out too late."
"No one should let themselves get used to anything."
Veronika: "If one day I could get out of here, I would allow myself to be crazy. Everyone is indeed crazy, but the craziest are the ones who don't know they're crazy; they just keep repeating what others tell them to."
"You have passed through 2 hardest tests on spiritual road: the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what you encounter."
"If people don't like it, they can complain. And if they don't have the courage to complain, that's their problem."
"You have 2 choices: to control your mind or let your mind control you."
"Run the risk of being different but learn to do so without attracting attention."
"It's what you are not what others make of you."
"But human beings are like that. We've replaced nearly all our emotions with fear."
"We are allowed to make a lot of mistakes in our lives except the mistake that destroys us."
"If only everyone could know and live with their inner craziness..."
"The person who's right is just the person who's the strongest."
"[Crazy people] We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality."
"Many people don't allow themselves to love, precisely because of that, because there are a lot of things at risk, a lot of future and a lot of past. In your case, there is only present."
"Some things are governed by common sense. Other things, however, become fized because more and more people believe that's the way it should be." [like QWERTY keyboard, Clockwise direction of clocks.]
Veronika: Am I cured?
Dr. Igor: No. "You're someone who's different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that, in my view, is a serious illness."
"Diplomacy is the art of waiting, the art of keeping up a facade of normality whatever the circumstances and the art of postponing decisions until problems resolve themselves."
"The great craziness of men and women is precisely that: LOVE."
"The danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort."
"All of us, one way or another, are insane."
Veronika: "When I took the pills, I wanted to kill someone I hated. I didn't know that other Veronikas existed inside me, Veronikas I could love."
"There is always a gap between intention and action."
"Nothing in this world happen by chance."
"Each person knows the extent of their suffering or the total absence of meaning in their lives."
"[We are one of those] ...people who have all the same vacant look but pretend to be pondering on extremely important matters."
Veronika: "And it has nothing to do with what you can see happening in my body, it's what's happening in my soul."
"People she knew would talk about the horrors in other people's lives as if they were genuinely trying to help them, but the truth was that they took pleasure in the suffering of others because that made them believe they were happy and that life had been generous with them."
"Anyone who lives in her own world is crazy."
"I want to continue being crazy, living my life the way I dream it and not the way other people want it to be."
"They [people] think they are normal, because they all do the same thing."
"That display of exuberance in which I could not participate was somehow unfair."
"The insane always believe in first impressions."
"Real love changes and grows with time and discover new ways of expressing itself."
"When the days are all the same, they pass more quickly."
"Friendship requires a lot of time spent together."
"Personal growth has its price."
"Did I fight hard enough? Should I have accepted my role as mistress rather than wanting things go as expected them to?"
"People never learn anything by being told; they have to find out for themselves."
"Insanity is the inability to communicate your ideas."
"She had never had enough energy to be herself, a person who like, everyon else in the world, needed other people in order to be happy. But other people were so difficult. They reacted in unpredictable ways, they surrounded themselves with defensive walls, they behaved as she did, pretending they didn't care about anything."
"Hatred. Something almost as physical as walls, pianos or nurses."
"Insanity allows people to feel things that people usually hide."
"Veronika hated the love she had given because it had asked for nothing in return, which was absurd, unreal and againt the laws of nature. That love asking for nothing in return had managed to fill her with guilt, with a desire to fulfill another's expectations even if that meant giving up everything she had dreamed of for herself. It was a love that for years had tried to hide from her the difficulties and the corruption that existed in the world, ignoring the fact that one day, she would have to find out and would then be defenseless against them."
"Present: where all the life's secret lie."
"She had actually felt them [hatred], and they were no longer necessary, they could leave."
"Letting love fill up the empty space left behind by hatred."
"The best way to avoid trouble is to share responsibility."
"The happier people can be, the unhappier they are."
"People only go insane when they try to escape from routine."
"Living a thousand deaths everyday, every night and not one of you feels an ounce of pity for me."
"A schizophrenic is a person who already has a natural tendency to absent himself from this world, creating his own reality."
"[Reality is] It's whatever the majority deems it to be."
"I should have been crazier." But, as it undoubtedly hapens with most people, she had found this out too late."
"No one should let themselves get used to anything."
Veronika: "If one day I could get out of here, I would allow myself to be crazy. Everyone is indeed crazy, but the craziest are the ones who don't know they're crazy; they just keep repeating what others tell them to."
"You have passed through 2 hardest tests on spiritual road: the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what you encounter."
"If people don't like it, they can complain. And if they don't have the courage to complain, that's their problem."
"You have 2 choices: to control your mind or let your mind control you."
"Run the risk of being different but learn to do so without attracting attention."
"It's what you are not what others make of you."
"But human beings are like that. We've replaced nearly all our emotions with fear."
"We are allowed to make a lot of mistakes in our lives except the mistake that destroys us."
"If only everyone could know and live with their inner craziness..."
"The person who's right is just the person who's the strongest."
"[Crazy people] We looked for the easiest way out: a separate reality."
"Many people don't allow themselves to love, precisely because of that, because there are a lot of things at risk, a lot of future and a lot of past. In your case, there is only present."
"Some things are governed by common sense. Other things, however, become fized because more and more people believe that's the way it should be." [like QWERTY keyboard, Clockwise direction of clocks.]
Veronika: Am I cured?
Dr. Igor: No. "You're someone who's different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that, in my view, is a serious illness."
"Diplomacy is the art of waiting, the art of keeping up a facade of normality whatever the circumstances and the art of postponing decisions until problems resolve themselves."
"The great craziness of men and women is precisely that: LOVE."
"The danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort."
"All of us, one way or another, are insane."
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