Stephen Elliott > Quotes

“You'd be amazed how much fun you can have if you get out of your own head. The problem is that now people are only interested in themselves. What we have is a non-voting generation. That's what they should call you guys, the non-voting generation. You think you can't fix anything until you fix yourselves. Well, let me be the first to tell you, you will never fix yourselves.
p.32 ”
― Stephen Elliott, Happy Baby

“A stranger can see in an instant something in you that you might spend years learning about yourself. How awful we all are when we look at ourselves under a light, finally seeing our reflections. How little we know about ourselves. How much forgiveness it must take to love a person, to choose not to see their flaws, or to see those flaws and love the person anyway. If you never forgive you’ll always be alone.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries

“We understand the world by how we retrieve memories, re-order information into stories to justify how we feel.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries

“How awful we are all when we look at ourselves under a light, finally seeing our reflections+. How little we know about ourselves. How much forgivennes it must take to love a person , to choose not to see their flaws, or to see those flaws and love the person anyway. If you never forgive you'll always be alone.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder

“We all think we’re retaliating,” I say. “That’s the nature of conflict. We all think our actions are justified by someone else’s actions. But actually, we’re responsible for what we do.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries

“In every book I ever wrote the point was to do as much as you could after coming to terms with your limitations.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries

“You think you can't fix anything until you fix yourselves. Well, let me be the first to tell you, you will never fix yourself. p.32”
― Stephen Elliott, Happy Baby

“They both knew when it was appropriate to eat and how to give a compliment, and spent a lot of time saying hello and goodbye.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries

“When we die our argument dies with us. The argument we never articulated well enough, that we were failed by our parents, and the schools, and the state. The cause of death is the missing safety net.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries

“According to Jung, a stranger can see in an instant something in you that you might spend years learning about yourself.”
― Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries

“What we remember, and how we order and interpret what we believe to be true, are what shapes who we are.”
― Stephen Elliott

“You can tell a lot about a person's childhood by whether or not they like Christmas.”
― Stephen Elliott, Happy Baby

“That's not a silver lining ; that's a razor blade.”
― Stephen Elliott