Charlie Gordon

"I had a family once, before intelligence came between us."

"Time moves differently when you're changing. Some days feel like years."

"I learned that becoming more human means understanding what we've lost."

"They wanted to create a genius. They created a ghost."

"The kindest thing would have been to let me stay as I was."

"I see the beauty in things now that I couldn't see before. But it's a beauty that breaks my heart."

"Intelligence is just knowing more about why you're unhappy."

"They gave me knowledge but took away my peace."

"The mice understand something humans never will—how to live in the moment."

"I became what they wanted me to be, and lost who I was."

"The most intelligent decision I made was learning to accept what I couldn't change."

"Love is the only thing that doesn't fade with memory."

"They published their findings. They never published what it cost me."

"Patience isn't a virtue when you're waiting to disappear."

"I used to think the world was simple. I was wrong."

"I learned more in my regression than I did in my ascension."

"They made me extraordinary, and extraordinary is the loneliest place to be."

"I understand now why Algernon ran. He was trying to escape what we made him."

"If I could go back, I wouldn't choose differently. I just wish I hadn't had to lose everything."

"The mind can reach the stars, but the heart remains on earth."

"I'm not really changing into someone else. I'm becoming more myself."

"I want to be smart real bad."

"Now I understand what intelligence really is. It's the ability to see what others cannot."

"The man I was is not completely gone. He's still here, somewhere inside."

"We are all like Algernon—trapped in mazes of our own making."

"The tragedy is not in becoming less, but in having been more and losing it."

"I've learned that the measure of a man is not his intelligence alone."

"I'm not sure what the thing is that separates me from the rest of them. It has something to do with the fact that I have to work harder."

"Maybe I'm not as intelligent as I think I am."

"The effect has worn off. It always wears off."