Mental Health Awareness Week

Having danced with my own host of Demons I put together the following to celebrate a few truths about this subject. And for those who might resent the use of the word ‘madness’ – get over it! I think it is better to be ‘mad’ than to conform to the ‘sanity’ around us.

"Sanity remains defined simply by the ability to cope with insane conditions." Ana Castillo

"Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all." Bill Clinton

"But you learn to smother the living breathing soul, go deaf to it, and this violence to the self is what is commonly called sanity in the places where I have lived." –Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Walking to the Danube

"We are all born mad. Some remain so." –Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

"I am not mad; I would to heaven I were! For then, ’tis like I should forget myself; O, if I could, what grief should I forget!" –William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John

"A man who is 'of sound mind' is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key." –Paul Valéry, Mauvaises pensées et autres

"And of course you are mad, if by a madman we mean a mind that questions and rejects every civilized norm." –Stephen Fry, Revenge

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat. “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat. “or you wouldn’t have come here.” –Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

"Insanity—a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world." –RD Laing

"Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy." –Nora Ephron

"I suppose that the human mind can only stand so much grief and anguish. After that the fuses blow." –Fynn, Mister God, This is Anna

"Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you." –Carl Jung

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. … I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends … and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it." –John Lennon

"What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?" –Ursula K. LeGuin

"The question is: what is a sane man to do in an insane society?" –Joseph Heller, Catch-22

"Sanity is a cozy lie." –Susan Sontag

"Insanity in individuals is something rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule." –Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Think about it. Talk about it. Celebrate it. But don't suffer it alone!