34 Quotes by Sue Klebold

People refer to the fog of war, and I am sure something similar applies to my situation. If I hadn't kept a running record of the days, weeks, and years, the fog would have swallowed too much of the story for me to provide a reliable account.

If the portrayal of Dylan as a monster left the impression that the tragedy at Columbine had no relevance to average people or their families, then whatever measure of comfort it offered was false. I hope the truth will awake people to a greater sense of vulnerability—more frightening, perhaps, but crucial—that cannot so easily be circumscribed.

Forgiveness can carry a kind of superiority, or condescension, or even self-righteousness. When we talk about forgiving others, we have to be mindful that forgiving somebody else puts us in a position where we in some way are feeling superior to another human being. We are saying, 'I forgive you,' as if we are bestowing on them some great gift that they should be worthy of.

The sad, scary truth is we never know when we (or someone we love) may experience a serious brain health crisis

Depression and other types of brain disorders do not strip someone of a moral compass, and yet these are potentially life-threatening diseases that can impair judgment and distort a person's sense of reality. We must turn our attention to researching and raising awareness about these diseases--and to dispelling the myths that prevent us from helping those who most need it.

. . .[B]rain health isn't an 'us versus them' situation. Every one of us has the capacity to suffer in this way, and most of us--at some time in our lives--will. We teach our kids the importance of good dental care, proper nutrition, and financial responsibility. How many of us teach our children to monitor their own brain health, or know how to do it ourselves?

I grew up with the understanding that personal presentation is a way to show respect. I might be most comfortable in jeans and an old T-shirt, but I dress up to go to the theater out of admiration for the performers. I wouldn’t dream of wearing sweatpants to temple, or to church.

The ultimate message of this book is terrifying: you may not know your own children, and, worse yet, your children may be unknowable to you. The stranger you fear may be your own son or daughter.

The symptoms of intense grief – memory loss, attention deficit, emotional fragility, incapacitating fatigue – are surprisingly similar to those resulting from traumatic brain injury.