Nellie Bly

“I always had a desire to know asylum life more thoroughly.”

“Very little was said to me. The insane, I found, are taught to be dumb.”

“The insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there it is impossible to get out.”

“Could I pass a week in the insane ward at Blackwell's Island? I said I could and I would. And I did.”

“How can a doctor tell whether a sane person is insane or an insane person is sane?”

“Energy rightly applied and directed will accomplish anything.”

“I said I could and I would. And I did.”

“It is only after one is in trouble that one realizes how little sympathy and kindness there are in the world.”

“I had no real hope of being able to do anything to help those sufferers. My one object was to find out the truth.”

“What a mysterious thing madness is. I have watched patients whose insanity was supposed to be harmless. After a while I found in them signs of a deep-seated humor.”

“For a moment I was dazed, but I had to keep my wits about me, for on my wits depended my success.”

“To have a good brain the first requisite is to have a good stomach.”

“I have never written a word that did not come from my heart. I never shall.”

“I was too impatient to work at the usual duties assigned women on newspapers.”