A biography for Jennifer Nivenhasn’t been written yet.
“Music did that to me, just like God was supposed to, because music seemed both magic and holy.”
“She waves her arms at the world. "It's all just time filler until we die.”
“You make me lovely, and it's so lovely to be lovely to the one I love...”
“It's okay to laugh, you know. The earth's not going to split open. You're not going to hell. Believe me. If there's a hell, I'll be there ahead of you, and they'll be too busy with me to even check you in.”
“The future is uncertain, but that can be a good thing.”
“But what if hope had a threshold? What if there was a limit to it? What if each of us was only given a certain amount and mine was used up?”
“People rarely bring flowers to a suicide.”
“Too many people in this world think small is the best they can do. Not you, Libby Strout. You weren't born for small! You don't know how to do small! Small is not in you!”
“Water is peaceful. I am at rest. In thewater, I am safe and pulled in where Ican’t get out. Everything slows down—the noise and the racing of my thoughts.”
“I can be both of us at once so no one will have to miss her, most of all me. I I”
“Who cares for Algebra?Who delights in solving math?I only want to live my lifeAlong the creative path.”
“Since I stopped writing, I read more than ever. Other people's words, not my own--my words are gone.”
“Never bullshit a bullshitter.”
“I should be happy, but instead I feel nothing. I feel a lot of nothing these days. I've cried a few times, but mostly I'm empty, as if whatever makes me feel and hurt and laugh and love has been surgically removed, leaving me hollowed out like a shell.”
“For a minute, I can feel it: the sense of peace as my mind goes quiet, like I'm already dead. I am weightless and free. Nothing and no one to fear, not even myself.”
“The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count. Everyone's so busy waiting in the Waiting Place. If we stopped to remember that there's such a thing as a Purina Tower and a view like this, we'd all be happier.”
“In those moments, none of it matters. It’s like that stuff is happening to someone else because all you feel is dark inside, and that darkness just kind of takes over. You don’t even really think about what might happen to the people you leave behind, because all you can think about is yourself.”
“You know, that's what you've been doing in a way--coming out. Coming out of your room. Coming out of your house. Coming out of your shell.”
“Now, if you asked him what he was going to do with himself, he'd tell you he guessed he might do anything he set his mind to. But he'd say it in a far-off way, as if he didn't really mean it or care much at all.”
“Were you planning to jump off?"“Not on pizza day. Never on pizza day, which is one of the better days of the week.” I should mention that I am a brilliant deflector.”