Quotes from Patty Duke

My life was ripped off!

The panic attacks - I still have them. They started when I was around 8. They always have to do with my death.

Due to my sometimes erratic behavior, my children tried very hard to avoid me and not do anything to set me off.

If I have any message for others, it is to go for help early and not to be a resistant patient.

I can't tell you what I had for breakfast, but I can sing every single word of rock and roll.

My recovery from manic depression has been an evolution, not a sudden miracle.

I still have highs and lows, just like any other person. What's missing is the lack of control over the super highs, which became destructive, and the super lows, which are immediately destructive.

The doctors must tell you that one of the risks of surgery is that you might die. This poor doctor was talking to an actress. It was very dramatic to me. To him, it was just a thing he had to say.

I think my real depressions started when I was about 16 and doing The Patty Duke Show. I would go to bed at about 10 o'clock on a Friday night and not get up again until 6:30 Monday morning

I kind of like the position of being the fair-haired savior of my mother

I joke around a lot about the manic times because they're funny. We manics do outrageous things and it is part of our colorful nature.

I've survived. I've beaten my own bad system, and on some days, on most days, that feels like a miracle.

I'm surviving a life-threatening illness. Many do not, such as those without celebrity and fortune who have to depend on the public healthcare system.

Bipolar indicates that you're not - you don't just experience depression, but the mood swing goes up, and it can go very up.

Reality is hard. It is no walk in the park, this thing called life.

Actors take risks all the time. We put ourselves on the line. It is creative to be able to interpret someone's words and breathe life into them.

Fairness is really important to me.

I was a very isolated teenager.

I never did quite fit the glamour mode. It is life with my husband and family that is my high now.

I believe that all the important people in my life prior to 1982 were victimized by my illness

I've gotten to the age where I'm comfortable with just about everything - except getting old!

No amount of therapy will take care of a chemical imbalance of the brain.

For the first time, I lived alone... in a luxury apartment on Sunset Strip. For a few days I loved the idea, but I got lonely and restless.

I was just sort of moving through time.