123 Quotes by Alison Bechdel

In one way, what I saw in those mirrors was the self trapped inside the self, forever.But in another way, the self in the mirror was opening out, in an infinite unfurling.I am the one whose drive is being thwarted.And I am the one who is thwarting it.

How Horrid" has a slightly facetious tone that strikes me as Wildean. It appears to embrace the actual horror--puberty, public disgrace--then at the last second nimbly sidesteps it, laughing.

I did not draw a conscious parallel to my own sexuality, much less my father's. But the immersion -- like green dishwashing liquid bathing a cuticle -- left me supple and open to possibility.

Grief takes many forms, including the absence of grief.

The more gratification we found in our own geniuses, the more isolated we grew... And in this isolation, our creativity took on an aspect of compulsion.

And in a way, you could say that my father's end was my beginning...Or more precisely, that the end of his lie coincided with the beginning of my truth

I suppose that a lifetime spent hiding one's erotic truth could have a cumulative renunciatory effect. Sexual shame is in itself a kind of death.

I’ll watch a movie only if it meets the following criteria: 1. It has to have at least two women in it. 2. Who talk to each other. 3. About something besides a man.

And woe betide the person with the 'double abnormality' of a false self and 'a fine intellect' that they find they can use to escape their pain.'The world may observe academic success of a high degree, and may find it hard to believe in the very real distress of the individual concerned, who feels 'phoney' the more he or she is successful. [as quoted by Winnicott]