Other people had something I lacked something denied me. In my mental blindness, I had believed it was somehow connected with the ability to read and write, and I was sure that if I could get those skills I would have intelligence too. Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men. A child may not know how to feed itself, or what to eat, yet it knows hunger.

— Daniel Keyes

Punctuation, is? Fun!

— Daniel Keyes

Shut up! Leave him alone! He can't understand. He can't help what he is ... but for God's sake, have some respect! Furthermore, he's a human being!

— Daniel Keyes

Thank God for books and music and things I can think about.

— Daniel Keyes

That's the most important thing. If I keep reading, maybe I can hold my own.

— Daniel Keyes

The answer can't be found in books - or be solved by bringing it to other people. Not unless you want to remain a child all your life. You've got to find the answer inside you - feel the right thing to do. Charlie, you've got to learn to trust yourself

— Daniel Keyes

The more she talked that way, the worse I felt. She highlighted my awkwardness, my lack of knowledge about the right things to say and do. I was a blundering adolescent in her eyes, and she was trying to let me down easy.

— Daniel Keyes

The universe was exploding, each particle away from the next, hurtling us into dark and lonely space, eternally tearing us away from each other - child out of the womb, friend away from friend, moving from each other, each through his own pathway towards the goal-box of solitary death.

— Daniel Keyes

The world around me and my past seem far away and distorted, as if time and space were taffy being stretched and looped and twisted out of shape.

— Daniel Keyes

This is beauty, love, and truth all rolled into one. This is joy. And now that I've found it, how can I give it up? Life and work are the most wonderful things a man can have.

— Daniel Keyes