I need to feel strongly, to love and to admire, just as desperately as I need to breathe

“I need to feel strongly, to love and to admire, just as desperately as I need to breathe. A letter from a friend, a Balthus painting on a postcard, a page of Saint-Simon, give meaning to the passing hours." But to keep my mind sharp, to avoid descending into resigned indifference, I maintain a level of resentment and anger, neither too much nor to little, just as a pressure cooker has a a safety valve to keep it from exploding.” - Jean-Dominique Bauby

Jean-Dominique Bauby quote from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Bauby was a French journalist, author and editor who suffered a massive stroke in 1995 that left him with locked-in syndrome - a rare neurological condition that left his mind clear and alert but his body completely paralyzed. He could not move a muscle except for his left eyelid.