68 Quotes by Lydia Lunch

I decided to lock myself in. A forced segregation. Sabbatical. A retreat into myself. My selves. Play hide and go seek in the looking-glass. The mirror angled at the foot of my bed. Twisted reflections bouncing off into infinity. Obsessed with my image, the myriad of distored figurines who danced in front of me in rapid succession, every feature exaggerated, every slight imperfection a new delicacy.

There is so much in the world to hate, why hate yourself?

I had to de-program myself. From myself. Had to reinvent rituals of purification. So full of the vagrant pollutions of others. It was time to detox. Not only from alcohol, sex, and drugs, but from needy leeches who looked to swab me with their sores. Detox from my own needy lechery. Had to locate the center wound and cauterize. Undo the original sin, the origin of my sickness...Had to learn to replace Them, It, Want, Hurt, Anger, Sorrow, Loss, with Power, Healing, Wisdom, Fulfillment, Satisfaction.

Women are denied masturbation even more severely than men and that's another method of control-they're not taught to please themselves.... Most women-it takes them a while to warm up to the "situation" but once they get into it, I'm sure they're going to get just as hooked as-well, everyone I know is!

The imperial, genocidal war machine never rests, so I don't either.

I’m completely optimistic – I know the end is coming!

I’m nihilistic, antagonistic, violent, horrible – but not obliterated, yet. I just refuse to be beaten down. I think it’s stubborness that keeps me going.

I’m a very sympathetic person, but that doesn’t always come across in my work because I’m too busy being mad at everything.

Sure you’re powerless, sure you’re just one person, sure you can’t change anything but you don’t have to be miserable about it as well.