Lunatics are similar to designated hitters. Often an entire family is crazy, but since an entire family can't go into the hospital, one person is des… - Susanna Kaysen

They did not put much value on my capacities, which were admittedly few, but genuine. I read everything, I wrote constantly, and I had boyfriends by the barrelful. “Why don’t you do the assigned reading?” they’d ask. “Why don’t you write your papers instead of whatever you’re writing—what is that, a short story?” “Why don’t you expend as much energy on your schoolwork as you do on your boyfriends?” By my senior year I didn’t even bother with excuses, let alone explanations. “Where is your term paper?” asked my history teacher. “I didn’t write it. I have nothing to say on that topic.” “You could have picked another topic.” “I have nothing to say on any historical topic.”

One of my teachers told me I was a nihilist. He meant it as an insult but I took it as a compliment.

My self-image was not unstable. I saw myself, quite correctly, as unfit for the educational and social systems.