Quotes from Patty Duke

I have been afraid all my life that I am going to die. All my life it has been stuffed in my imagination.

From the moment we walk out the door until we come back home our sensibilities are so assaulted by the world that we have to soak up as much love as we can get, simply to arm ourselves.

I can't even remember how many times I tried to kill myself.

I was a truly loving mom, but I didn't have the tools to do the job.

I have two books that were published quite some time ago. I start to read about three sentences. I have to close it. I am so self-conscious. Who did I think I was?

Without a sense of humor, I would have been gone a long time ago.

As much as I loathe this aging thing, I'm beginning to recognize that I am now a healthier person in terms of self-worth and knowing who I am and where I fit in the world. That's been a good trade-off for the wrinkles.

One of the reasons I survived as well as I did was my genetics. My mother and father both had very tough lives, and boy, were they survivors.

It's toughest to forgive ourselves. So it's probably best to start with other people. It's almost like peeling an onion. Layer by layer, forgiving others, you really do get to the point where you can forgive yourself.

I had been very close to Anne Bancroft when we worked together in The Miracle Worker

The mania started with insomnia and not eating and being driven, driven to find an apartment, driven to see everybody, driven to do New York, driven to never shut up.

When I don't know what the music is going to be for a scene, I imagine some sort of orchestration going on and damned if they don't usually come up with a similar kind of thing.

Sometimes it is the simplest, seemingly most inane, most practical stuff that matters the most to someone.

Human beings have speculated about the relationship between inspiration and insanity for centuries.

I knew from a very young age that there was something very wrong with me.

It's not a giant thrill to hear someone give you the label 'manic-depressive,' but to me I was so relieved. What I was suffering from had a name and could be treated.

When I'm 80 and sitting in a rocking chair listening to the Rolling Stones, there is absolutely no way I'm going to feel old or forget my younger days.

No matter what your laundry list of requirements in choosing a mate, there has to be an element of good luck and good fortune and good timing.

I tell people to monitor their self-pity. Self-pity is very unattractive.

We have developed this unbelievable ability to deny. We have to. If we didn't, we'd go crazy.

I'm spoiled rotten, as my children would tell you.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Award that I received for women's rights activities is one I treasure

Women who put on a few pounds after starting lithium sometimes say the cure is worse than the disease. The weight gain shoots them straight into depression.

During the rocky times, it never occurred to me that one day I would hold a position of respect and responsibility in the community.