Flowers for Algernon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Being smart doesn't make you better. It just makes you different."

"I wanted to save myself and couldn't. That's the most terrifying realization of all."

"They told me I was extraordinary. But I felt so very, very alone."

"The greatest tragedy is not failure, but success achieved at the cost of your soul."

"I used to dream of being smart. Now I dream of being happy."

"The mouse understood something we never could—how to be content."

"I see now that the experiment was never really about science. It was about power."

"Ignorance might be bliss, but it's also imprisonment."

"They celebrate my progress while ignoring my pain."

"I was happy before. Before I knew."