Quotes from Nancy Werlin

Fear isn't actually a bad thing. It's a primitive instinct that's your friend. It warms you to pay attention, because you're in danger. It tells you to do something, to act, to save yourself.

Jews put black over mirrors during times os mourning so they wouldn't think about themselves. But I never did look in mirrors anyway, because I disliked myself. No, wait. I disliked my appearance.

Demons are real. Since I'm not religious, I think of them as metaphors for the evil desires and impulses all humans have. A religious person can think of them as separate evil beings that can possess you. Either way, I believe they exist, lurking patiently around and in us, whispering their twisted points of view, ever alert for an opportunity. The sudden chink in your armor when you're tired, frightened, or angry. The invitation you issue in that moment of vulnerability.

But I know that I am not who I was supposed to be, who I could have been, and I know it's because I was too afraid for too long. It made me think about things I never should have.

I've never felt just like me, just like Alison. I can't be myself in this family because it's more important that I be... this person who's not... Adam. Who's normal. Smart. Good. Who's not... Autistic.

When you're living your life in endurance mode, you don't expect anything good to happen. I'm not saying you don't dream about some miracle that would change everything for the better. But you pretty much know it's only a fantasy, and that you have no real control over anything.

Continued pain is a signal to the body that there's something wrong, not right. Lucy Scarborough Nancy Werlin

I think the fear gets into your blood. It makes your subatomic particles twist and distort. You change, chemically. The fear changes, too. It because not your helper, but your master. You are a slave to it.

It was any outcast's nightmare. If I looked carefully, I suspected I might find it beneath the black paint of the small acrylic by the window.

The events we live through taught me to be sure of nothing about other people. They taught me to expect danger around every corner. They taught me to understand that there are people in this world who mean you harm. And sometimes, they're people you say they love you.

I drew anything. Everything. Doodles at first. But I had a knack for reproducing what I saw, and soon my paper and pencil — and then later, my paints and charcoals — formed a strong, protective wall around me. They stood between me and everyone else in the world. I liked it that way. I liked being quiet, letting no one know what I thought, or how ferocious those thoughts were.

If you think you already know what you're looking at, you might not see what's really there.

If it ought to be done, then apply yourself to it strenuously

She has found delight in freedom from attachment

The events we live through taught me to be sure of nother about other people. They taught me to expect danger around every corner. They taught me to understand that there are people in this world who mean you harm. And sometimes, they're people you say they love you.

The survivor gets to tell the story.