quotes by David Sheff

"In his suicide note, Kurt Cobain wrote, "It's better to burn out than to fade away." He was quoting a Neil Young song about Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. When I was twenty-four, I interviewed John Lennon. I asked him about this sentiment, one that pervades rock and roll. He took strong, outraged exception to it. "It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out, " he said. "I worship people who survive. I'll take the living and the healthy.""
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it."
— David Sheff

"How can both Nics, the loving and considerate and generous one, and the self-obsessed and self-destructive one, be the same person?"
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"I am becoming used to an overwhelming, grinding mixture of anger and worry..."
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"Through Nic's drug addiction, I have learned that parents can bear almost anything....I shock myself with my ability to rationalize and tolerate things once unthinkable. The rationalizations escalate....It's only marijuana. He gets high only on weekends. At least he's not using hard drugs...."
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"Why does it help to read others' stories? It is not only that misery loves company, because (I learned) misery is too self-absorbed to want much company. Others' experiences did help with my emotional struggle..."
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"I know there is no point in haranguing him because he will just shut down, but I want to cover every angle."
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of problems."
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"Jasper, who is six, is the only one of us who responds appropriately. He wails, inconsolable for an hour."
— David Sheff

"Here's a note to the parents of addicted children: Choose your music carefully...There are millions of treacherous moments."
— David Sheff (Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction)

"At my worst, I even resented Nic because an addict, at least when high, has a momentary respite from his suffering. There is no similar relief for parents or children or husbands or wives or others who love them."
— David Sheff

"How innocent we are of our mistakes and how we responsible we are for them."
— David Sheff