A Beautiful Mind Madness Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from A Beautiful Mind.

Quote #1

ALICIA: What's wrong with him?

DR. ROSEN: John has schizophrenia. People with this disorder are often paranoid.

ALICIA: But…but his work, he deals with conspiracies, so…

DR. ROSEN: Yes, yes, I know. In John's world, these behaviors are accepted, encouraged. As such, his illness may have gone untreated far longer than is typical.

ALICIA: What do you mean? How long?

DR. ROSEN: Possibly since graduate school. At least, that's when his hallucinations seem to have begun.

Alicia and Dr. Rosen have this exchange right after John has been institutionalized for schizophrenia. As you can see, Alicia had not suspected that anything was up. She had even believed John when he told her stories about people she had never met, and who turned out not to be real.

Quote #2

JOHN: The implant's gone. I can't find it. It's gone.

[…]

DR. ROSEN [later, talking to Alicia.]: You see, the nightmare of schizophrenia is not knowing what's true. Imagine if you had suddenly learned that the people and the places and the moments most important to you were not gone, not dead, but worse, had never been. What kind of hell would that be?

Once in the hospital, it takes a while to get John to understand that a lot of what he's believed to be true…well, isn't. He even carves up his wrist looking for the implant he believes the Department of Defense put there.

Quote #3

PARCHER: We've narrowed the bomb's location to somewhere on the eastern seaboard, but we haven't been able to pinpoint its exact position. Their codes have grown increasingly complex.

Unfortunately, even after seeking treatment, John's delusions aren't gone permanently because John doesn't really like staying on his meds. So, his "DoD contact," Parcher, reappears and tries to get John to start helping him again.