Flowers for Algernon

"I realize that I have no real friends. That I had expected that gratitude and friendship would grow with my intellectual advancement, but it has worked out the opposite way."

"They wanted to study intelligence, but they never understood what it means to be intelligent and alone."

"Algernon was more than just a mouse. He was my friend."

"I don't know what I am anymore—am I the old Charlie or the new one?"

"I keep telling myself I'm a person, but they treat me like a thing."

"Maybe I'm not really intelligent. Maybe I'm just a freak."

"I'm not an animal or a laboratory specimen. I'm a human being."

"I want to leave something behind that proves I was here and I was someone."

"I understand now why I was the way I was before, and I'm not angry about it."

"Algernon was my friend, my only real friend."

"I was happier before when I didn't know how much I didn't know."

"Reading is opening doors to other worlds and other minds."

"I want to become human, not just intelligent."

"Before the operation I had friends but now that I'm intelligent they're afraid of me."

"I cry because I'm happy and sad at the same time."

"I'm afraid of the dark and the nightmares that come."

"We create our own hell by our actions."

"It's funny how the same thing can be either beautiful or ugly depending on how you look at it."

"I want to be smart but not if it means losing the friends I have now."

"The more intelligent you become, the more problems you'll have."