Patty Duke

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.

Fairness is really important to me.

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

I worshipped my father.

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.

My life was ripped off!

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

When we want to say something negative to somebody we say, 'Aww, you're so crazy.'

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

I'm going to be 58, and I'm a woman. In this business, that seems to be a bigger crime than being mentally ill.

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

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.

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

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 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?