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Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Overview

  • It's a story about a boy with low IQ who undergoes a science experiment to increase his intelligence. The experiment succeeds, and his IQ eventually surpasses that of his fellow researchers. However, his IQ later deteriorates, forming the central conflict. The narrative follows his emotional journey through each phase of this transformation.

  • The book's title comes from Algernon, a mouse used by scientists in the experiment that precedes the human trials.

  • https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36576608-flowers-for-algernon

Quotes

I don't know what's worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you've always wanted to be, and feel alone. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

That's the thing about human life--there is no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes—how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

Don't feel sorry for me. I'm glad I had a second chance in life to be smart because I learned a lot of things that I never knew were in this world, and I'm grateful I saw it even for a little bit. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

There are a lot of people who will give money or materials, but very few who will give time and affection. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

I'm living at a peak of clarity and beauty I never knew existed. Every part of me is attuned to the work. This is beauty, love, and truth all rolled into one. This is joy. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

No one really starts anything new. Everyone builds on other men's failures. There is nothing really original in science. What each man contributes to the sum of knowledge is what counts. ― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon