Dr. Fortunato,” Kristine shot back at Laurie, her resentment undisguised. “You don’t know how we do things in Wright. Dr. Parrish doesn’t care about hospital hierarchy. He’s very accessible and he’d never let his ego get in the way of patient care. Maybe you do things differently where you work-.
Eric had asked administration not to pipe the music into his unit but they said it would cost too much to alter the system. He told them to take it out of his budget but they said no... He knew it was part of the larger problem, that mental illness wasn’t taken seriously as physical illness...
One out of twenty-three is a sociopath and that’s 4 percent of the population, that’s a lot of sociopaths. Anorexic’s are 3 percent and everybody talks about them.
I always win in the end.
But not in “normal” people like me. They don’t realize that evil lives on their street. Works in the cubicle next to them. Chats with them in the checkout line at CVS. Reads a paperback on the train next to them. Runs on a treadmill at their gym. Or marries their daughter. We’re here, and we prey on you. We target you. We groom you.
My face is a mask. I hide my thoughts. My words are calculated to please, charm, or undermine. I can sound smarter or dumber, depending on what you expect to hear. My actions further my self- interest.
It doesn’t matter who she is, it matters who you are.
Harry Truman never said ‘Give ’em hell.’ He said, ‘I just told him the truth and they thought it was hell.
You’re my best friend. I understand you and appreciate you, and can make you happy the rest of your life, I promise you that.
Mary wondered when law got so complicated that even the lawyers needed lawyers.
Ha! She has a dark side, my sister. Nobody believes it, but she used to torture me when I was little.
Every psychiatrist hated the irony that the best-paying specialty was cosmetic surgery, as if you could fix your psyche by changing your face.
No one’s paying any attention to sociopaths, or they think we’re all killers, which is a misconception.
Because she does not worry about me.
I’ve learned that you don’t stop loving someone just because they die. And you don’t stop loving someone who’s dead just because you start loving someone else. I know this violates the natural law that two things can’t occupy the same place at the same time, but that’s never been true of the human heart anyway.
She’s only human. Don’t judge her. Just love her.
Mary was always surprised at how terse men could be. She needed fifteen minutes to say hello. Plus hugging time.
They drove through the town of Collegeville on Route 29, a winding two-lane road, and continued past colonial vintage houses, then rolling hills and pastured horses. The farmland turned into a vast open space, and Christine sensed they were approaching the prison. “I think we’re almost there,” she said, glancing over. Lauren.
Yes, she’s about to embark on a new phase of her life. And yes, my role in her life may change. But as time goes on and our hearts grow more rings, we don’t have to leave anyone behind. We can hold on to each other, and collect new hearts to hold, from this day forward, as long as we all shall live.
You proceeded irregardless.