Jonathan Harnisch > Quotes

“Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Freak

“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of the world but those who fight and win battles that others do not know anything about.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, The Brutal Truth

“I’ve always loved the night, when everyone else is asleep and the world is all mine. It’s quiet and dark—the perfect time for creativity.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Porcelain Utopia

“I keep moving ahead, as always, knowing deep down inside that I am a good person and that I am worthy of a good life.”
― Jonathan Harnisch

“Forget about being impressive and commit to being real. Because being real is impressive!”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“I have schizophrenia. I am not schizophrenia. I am not my mental illness. My illness is a part of me.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“You’ve got to reach bedrock to become depressed enough before you are forced to accept the reality and enormity of the problem.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“How simple it is to acknowledge that all the worry in the world could not control the future. How simple it is to see that we can only be happy now, and that there will never be a time when it is not now.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“You can’t be beaten by something you laugh at.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Freak

“Sometimes I return back to the state of mind I had as a child when I believed nothing was impossible.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, When We Were Invincible

“You know what is beautiful? A real conversation with a real person.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“The drug I take is called schizophrenia, among other labels, which I desperately want to put away. I want to put the drug of schizophrenia down, and I want to put down the stigma surrounding its label.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Second Alibi: The Banality of Life

“I’d wish it were easier to not allow other people’s pasts to create my own present.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Freak

“Pessimists try to convince you the world sucks, optimists already know it does and smile anyway.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“There is something about being loved and protected by a parent (or guardian) knowing that I can be loved for who I am, not what I can do, or might one day become. Unfortunately it’s not usually like this in every single situation. From time to time, my parents made mistakes during my childhood. Possibly I was the mistake, or unwanted. But I don’t know. I had every material thing that I could have ever wanted, but there was still something missing, as if I felt distanced from my parents, or misunderstood, in the ways that they treated me. At times, I had felt completely loved and accepted by my parents, but for one reason or another, they were unable to care for me, provide for me, in some ways that would have been very important. Sometimes I feel like I am trying to make up for the experiences in life that were absent when I was a child.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Sex, Drugs, and Schizophrenia

“We all have problems, but let's not kid ourselves: it's how we deal with them that makes the difference.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Sex, Drugs, and Schizophrenia

“I question how life is treating me, I should be asking how I am treating life.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“Love me, hate me, hurt me or kill me. I keep fighting.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, The Brutal Truth

“Thoughts. Thoughts bombard my head, my brain. My psyche”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“I feel completely broken due to the cruel and dark side of life. Life has been incredibly harsh, leaving me utterly shattered. I have been deeply affected and devastated by this cruel and unforgiving reality.”
― Jonathan Harnisch

“What if you had such severe schizophrenia that your life was just one hallucination after another? And what if people kept trying to drag you back out of those hallucinations, to prove that you weren't living in reality and that reality was nothing more than a psych hospital? Would you go?”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Sex, Drugs, and Schizophrenia

“The world surrounding me possesses an undeniable beauty, yet it has fundamentally shattered every aspect of my being.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Sex, Drugs, and Schizophrenia

“I wanted a complicated life.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Lover in the Nobody

“Everything in my life unravels, thread by thread, yet I smile as if I'm weaving a masterpiece. I wait patiently for the day when all of it—my triumphs, my failures, even my name—dissolves into nothing, as if none of it ever mattered at all.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Second Alibi: The Banality of Life

“No, Ben. What I’m asking is: Are you the vehicle, and Georgie rides around in you? That is why Ben’s the driver, right?”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“On closer inspection, this cruel and beautiful world is ours, and we are all completely alone and doomed.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Sex, Drugs, and Schizophrenia

“I have no more fight left, the will to keep going has been extinguished and I am ready to throw in the towel. Nothing matters anymore, my heart is hollow and I see no hope for a better tomorrow. There’s nothing that can lighten this heavy burden of despair – it is all too much, and it feels as if there is no end in sight.”
― Jonathan Harnisch

“It can be quite challenging to constantly remind ourselves that the reality we experience is merely a construct of our own minds. Despite our efforts to ground ourselves in the present, we often find ourselves getting caught up in the illusion of this fabricated world. However, it is imperative that we do not lose sight of the fact that none of this is real. The material possessions, societal norms, and societal expectations that we often place great value on are merely man-made constructs. It is crucial to maintain a sense of detachment and perspective, and to remember that ultimately, true reality lies beyond the physical realm.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Sex, Drugs, and Schizophrenia

“We lose hope in an endless cycle of distress. To overcome our problems and find peace, we must realize we need a simple viewpoint shift: Focusing on the present and moving slowly. We should choose positivity, appreciate our blessings, and be satisfied regardless of hope. Once we see results, we can keep going. We believe our influential minds can handle this.”
― Jonathan Harnisch

“The mental and physical terror, along with extreme discomfort, is excruciating and debilitating. To truly understand the enormity and cruel extent of the incapacitation and dread in the waking nightmare of akathisia, one must experience it firsthand.”
― Jonathan Harnisch