Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. Marilyn Monroe
Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness. Allen Ginsberg
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom. J G Ballard
‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.'
‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.
‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely. Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
More often than commonly realized, schizophrenia can be an episodic illness, especially in the years following its initial onset. Periods of acute psychosis may be interspersed with periods of relative calm in which symptoms diminish dramatically either as a result of treatment or spontaneously. Sylvia Nasar
Psychiatry, said Laing, was a fake science used as a system of political control to shore up a violent collapsing society. Its categories of madness and sanity had no reality. Madness was simply a convenient label used to lock away those who wanted to break free. Adam Curtis, The Trap I: Fuck You, Buddy, BBC 2007
It’s the route to another world; it’s consciousness explored. Matthew Collings, Hello Culture: Madness, Channel 4 2001
Mad art on the other hand is always outside of history … You can’t really take the madness out of Van Gogh. ibid.
Blake took over the role of family vision-seer when he was five … Blake only became famous after his death. ibid.
For the first time in sixty years Ohio State Psychiatric Hospitals had allowed cameras in to film with patients. Most of the men and women I’d be meeting had committed serious crimes but had found NGRI [Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity]. Louis Theroux: By Reason of Insanity I, BBC 2015
Brian had first been admitted to hospital twenty years earlier after killing his mother. Louis Theroux: By Reason of Insanity II
A serious sexual assault on a close family member. His name was Dean ... Not guilty by reason of insanity. ibid.
He’d stabbed and killed a man at random. ibid.
I will not be part of this madness. The Devil’s Double 2011 starring Dominic Cooper & Philip Quast & Ludivine Sagnier & Mimoun Oaissa & Raad Rawi & Mem Ferda & Khalid Laith & Pano Masti et al, director Lee Tamahori, Latif to Uday
You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad. Adlai E Stevenson
He [Baron] is as mad as a waxed banana. What We Do in the Shadows s1e6: Baron’s Night Out, Lazzlo, FX 2019
January 1974: the full moon moved unusually close to the Earth. Research has found that a strange wave of violent crimes seemed to affect many large cities. Moon madness has long been a persistent myth which scientists are now investigating with computer technology. Can the full moon drive men mad? In Search of s5e6 … Moon Madness, History 1980
Winter 1788: King George III is hallucinating violent and abusive. He is losing control of himself and the country. This is a crisis. Britain’s can’t have a mentally ill king. Lucy Worsley Investigates: Madness of King George, BBC 2022
He was plagued by bouts of mental illness which were barely understood in his lifetime. ibid.
Now there is a rival diagnoses: was Porphyria, now Bipolar Affective Disorder. ibid.
Excuse me, this case is not in your way, is it? The Wednesday Play: The Compartment/Playmates by Johnny Speight, starring Marty Feldman, madman to passenger, ITV 1969
See, this is why so many trains get lost … ibid.
You have ignored me! Is that polite? ibid.
When the revolution comes, you’ll be one of the first to go. ibid.
You didn’t know I had a gun. ibid.
Bark like an Alsatian …. Down on the floor … We’ve had a lovely game. ibid.
Big house like this. Miles away from anywhere … ibid. Playmates, madman terrorises woman home alone
Woman like you living in a big house like this … ibid.