"Why did she do it? Nobody dared to ask. Because - what courage! Who had the courage to burn herself? Twenty aspirin, a little slit alongside the veins of the arm, maybe even a bad half hour standing on a roof: We've all had those. And somewhat more dangerous things, like putting a gun in your mouth. But you put it there, you taste it, it's cold and greasy, your finger is on the trigger, and you find that a whole world lies between this moment and the moment you've been planning, when you'll pull the trigger. That world defeats you. You put the gun back in the drawer. You'll have to find another way.

What was that moment like for her? The moment she lit the match. Had she already tried roofs and guns and aspirins? Or was it just an inspiration?

I had an inspiration once. I woke up one morning and I knew that today I had to swallow fifty aspirin. It was my task: my job for the day. I lined them up on my desk and took them one by one, counting. But it's not the same as what she did. I could have stopped, at ten, or at thirty. And I could have done what I did do, which was go onto the street and faint. Fifty aspirin is a lot of aspirin, but going onto the street and fainting is like putting the gun back in the drawer.

She lit the match."
— Susanna Kaysen (Girl, Interrupted)

"If I could put my brain in her body, the world would be mine for the taking. "
— Susan Elizabeth Phillips

"Life, it turns out, goes on. There is no cosmic rule that grants you immunity from the details just because you have come face-to-face with a catastrophe. The garbage can still overflow, the bills arrive in the mail, telemarketers, interrupt dinner."
— Jodi Picoult (Perfect Match:A Novel)

"Envy, after all, comes from wanting something that isn't yours. But grief comes from losing something you've already had."
— Jodi Picoult (Perfect Match:A Novel)

""Having to face him at a competency hearing is like getting to hell and finding out that the only food available is raw liver-insult added to injury.""
— Jodi Picoult (Perfect Match:A Novel)

"http://a4.vox.com/6a00e398a0ed8f000300fa... What if the one I choose to discount is one who has been truly hurt?"
— Jodi Picoult (Perfect Match: A Novel)

""'What time do you need to be at work tomorrow, Hon?' Lexi asks.
'Well, Ruby's back, so nine o'clock.'
'What does Ruby being back have to do with anything?'
'She's the human stopwatch, remember? Marriage doesn't change everything.'"
— Erynn Mangum (Rematch: A Lauren Holbrook Novel)