Patty Duke's Quotes

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

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

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

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

You can have manic-depression without having an ounce of creativity.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 have a picture of myself in my mind as I walk around every day, until I look in the mirror-and then I'm stunned.

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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'm not sure I want all my neuroses cleared up.