Quotes from Ken Kesey

Si-aproape ca zaresc masinaria din ei preluand cuvintele pe care tocmai le-am rostit si-incercand sa le potriveasca ici sau colo, intr-un loc sau altul, si cand constata ca acele cuvinte n-au un loc dinainte stabilit unde sa se aseze, masinaria din ei se leapada de cuvinte de parca nici n-ar fi fost rostite.

younger patients, known as 'Acutes' because the doctors figure them still sick enough to be fixed...

I sighed, surrendering speech, but held on to her arm. "Viv . . . ?" If this was the last of it, I wanted the last look of good-by.

Mi-a zis ca un om care-a tacut atata amar de vreme avea pesemne multe de spus, dupa care se intinse la loc pe perna si astepta. Eu ma straduii un minut sa-i zic ceva, dar singurele lucruri care-mi venira in minte erau din acelea pe care un om nu le poate spune altuia in cuvinte.

that fool Public Relations man who's always clapping his wet hands together and saying how overjoyed he is that mental hospitals have eliminated all the old-fashioned cruelty

Which one of you claims to be the craziest? Which one is the biggest loony? Who runs these card games

I can't help it. I was born a miscarriage. I had so many insults I died. I was born dead. I can't help it. I'm tired. I'm give out trying. You got chances. I had so many insults I was born dead. You got it easy. I was born dead an' life was hard. I'm tired. I'm tired out talking and standing up. I been dead fifty-five years.

He had made his trip without quite realizing it.

The days are the same, though, damn it (days that you feel like pages of soft wet sandpaper in your fingers, the silent pliant teeth of time eating away); the summers are the same.

And becomes aware of her image once more, vaguely reflected in the dirty attic window: what does it mean, all this concern about our images? It means this is the only way we ever see ourselves; looking out, at others, reflected through cobwebs from an attic window

That first day still came about as close to undoing me completely, both physically and mentally, as any day had in almost a week.

Besides there are somethings that can't be the truth even if they did happen.

I figured, There's no sense doing anything when everything's already been done

But, oh Viv, right doesn't make might.

She was saying something but I didn't hear, I ran, leaving her behind, toward my brother . . . leaving her and blindly hoping she might see that I was making it possible to perhaps someday have her. Her or someone.

one flew east, one flew west, One flew over the cuckoo's nest. —Children's folk rhyme

Nadie se queja de la niebla. Ahora ya sé por qué: aunque resulte molesta, permite hundirse en ella y sentirse seguro. Es lo que McMurphy no comprende, que queramos estar seguros. Sigue intentando hacernos salir de la niebla, ponernos al descubierto, donde sería fácil atraparnos.

But even then, with her prize in tow as she weaves out of the bar, the shield never changes, the expression stays, still somewhere between blunt ferocity and brute pathos.

Es posible que no comprendiera por qué seguíamos sin poder reír, pero sabía que es imposible ser fuerte si se es incapaz de ver el lado cómico de las cosas. De hecho, se esforzaba tanto por encontrarle ese lado cómico a la vida que empezaba a preguntarme si estaría ciego a su otro aspecto, si tal vez era incapaz de comprender por qué la risa se nos atravesaba en el estómago.

damn this world that just won't hold still for us!

Porque sabe que es preciso reírse de las cosas para mantener el equilibrio, para impedir que el mundo acabe enloqueciéndote. Sabe que las cosas tienen su lado triste [...], pero no quiere que el dolor empañe el humor, lo mismo que no permitiría que el humor empañase el dolor.

You got to understand that as soon as a man goes to help somebody, he leaves himself wide open.

I've seen a thousand of 'em, old and young, men and women. Seen 'em all over the country and in the homes—people who try to make you weak so they can get you to toe the line, to follow their rules, to live like they want you to. And the best way to do this, to get you to knuckle under, is to weaken you by gettin' you where it hurts the worst.

Boney Stokes was this oldtime acquaintance of Henry's and figured the best way to pass the time of day was by gradually dying.