Carrie Fisher quotes:

I always wrote. I wrote from when I was 12. That was therapeutic for me in those days. I wrote things to get them out of feeling them, and onto paper. So writing in a way saved me, kept me company. I did the traditional thing with falling in love with words, reading books and underlining lines I liked and words I didn't know.

I was born on October 21, 1956 in Burbank, California. My father, Eddie Fisher, was a famous singer. My mother, Debbie Reynolds, was a movie star. Her best-known role was in 'Singin' In The Rain.'

I went to a doctor and told him I felt normal on acid, that I was a light bulb in a world of moths. That is what the manic state is like.

There were days I could barely struggle into a size 46 or 48, months of larges and XXLs, and endless rounds of leggings with the elastic at the waist stretched to its limit and beyond - topped with the fashion equivalent of a tea cozy. And always black, because I was in mourning for my slimmer self.

Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

I have a chemical imbalance that, in its most extreme state, will lead me to a mental hospital.

My father was a joyous, joyous spirit, he really was. He was a hedonist, that was just - he enjoyed life, thrust up to the elbows with it. He was a terrible father. I don't know that he was parented that well.

Oh! This'll impress you - I'm actually in the Abnormal Psychology textbook. Obviously my family is so proud. Keep in mind though, I'm a PEZ dispenser and I'm in the abnormal Psychology textbook. Who says you can't have it all?

I spent a year in a 12-step program, really committed, because I could not believe what had happened - that I might have killed myself.

The world of manic depression is a world of bad judgment calls.

People see me and they squeal like tropical birds or seals stranded on the beach.

I really love the internet. They say chat-rooms are the trailer park of the internet but I find it amazing.

My mother's career was over at 40 but she was still trying to be everyone's buddy, always smiling for the cameras.

He's a very strange guy, my father. I can't get mad at him because he's so adorable.

I was born imagining myself with an apron on, with pies cooling on the window sill and babies crying upstairs. I thought that all that stuff would somehow anchor me to the planet, that it was the weight I needed to keep from just flying off into space.

I don't think Christmas is necessarily about things. It's about being good to one another, it's about the Christian ethic, it's about kindness.

I found out when I did the Oprah Winfrey show that there was a cookie jar of me. So she gave it to me. I had no idea prior to that that it even existed.

No, as it turns out, I really like being congratulated on my weight loss. I like it so much, it's tragic.

There's a line I have that our family was designed more for public than for private. But there are definitely some things that are only mine. I am someone who dreams at night, and you don't know what I'm dreaming.

I like performing. I like partnering with an audience.

Mothers are great. They outlast everything. But when they're bad, they're the worst thing that can happen.

Leia follows me like a vague smell.

I did the traditional thing with falling in love with words, reading books and underlining lines I liked and words I didn't know. It was something I always did.

So when I was 24, someone suggested to me that I was bipolar, and I thought that was ridiculous. I just thought he was trying to get out of treating me. But he was also responding to the chaotic nature of my life.

Acting engenders and harbours qualities that are best left way behind in adolescence.

Mistakes are a drag, because you get in the area of regret and self-pity.

If anything, my mother taught me how to sur-thrive. That's my word for it.

One of the great things to pretend is that you're not only alright, you're in great shape. Now to have that come true - I've actually gone on stage depressed and that's worked its magic on me, 'cause if I can convince you that I'm alright, then maybe I can convince me.

My parents had this incredibly vital relationship with an audience, like muscle with blood. This was the main competition I had for my parents' attention: an audience.

People see me and they squeal like tropical birds or seals stranded on the beach."

Sometimes you can only find Heaven by slowly backing away from Hell.

I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I'm still surviving it, but bring it on. Better me than you.

Bipolar disorder can be a great teacher. It's a challenge, but it can set you up to be able to do almost anything else in your life.

I'm fine, but I'm bipolar. I'm on seven medications, and I take medication three times a day. This constantly puts me in touch with the illness I have. I'm never quite allowed to be free of that for a day. It's like being a diabetic.

I think that now most people know someone in their family that is coping with something, but there is still a tremendous amount of shame - that one is still regarded as a defective unit ... if only they would pull up their bootstraps - they are only indulging their emotions, everybody's moody, blah, blah, blah.

You can't find any true closeness in Hollywood, because everybody does the fake closeness so well.

Here's what I've learned: that someone can change the course of history with a box cutter.

My heart's in the right place. I know, 'cuz I hid it there.

Now I say I'm a diarist with an explanation I'll get back to you on. Someday I may try and write in memoir form.

The only one who didn't know was George Lucas. We kept it from him, because we wanted to see what his face looked like when it changed expression--and he fooled us even then. He got Industrial Light and Magic to change his facial expressions for him and THX sound to make the noise of a face-changing expression.

Part of my gestalt is that I still feel a little bit like a wallflower. Even in my own life. I talk about myself behind my back.

Instant gratification takes too long.

My extroversion is a way of managing my introversion.

Kevin Smith is a very challenging conversationalist and Jay has many great stories.

Mania starts off fun, not sleeping for days, keeping company with your brain, which has become a wonderful computer, showing 24 TV channels all about you. That goes horribly wrong after awhile.

You know how most illnesses have symptoms you can recognize? Like fever, upset stomach, chills, whatever. Well, with manic depression, it's sexual promiscuity, excessive spending, and substance abuse - and that just sounds like a fantastic weekend in Vegas to me!

Sometimes I think all I want to find is a mean guy and make him be nice to me. Or maybe a nice guy who's a little bit mean to me. But they're usually too nice too soon or too mean too long.

There is no point at which you can say, 'Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap.'

I don't want to be thought of as a survivor because you have to continue getting involved in difficult situations to show off that particular gift, and I'm not interested in doing that anymore.

What worries me is, what if this guy is really the one for me and I just haven't had enough therapy yet for me to be comfortable with having found him.

You're not famous until you're a Pez dispenser.

Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be.

I still give my friends relationship advice, of course, and I'm not bad at it. 'Anyone's crisis but mine' is my motto.

I was street smart, but unfortunately the street was Rodeo Drive.

In my opinion, a problem derails your life and an inconvenience is not being able to get a nice seat on the un-derailed train.

Two of the saddest words in the English language are, 'What party?' And L.A. is the 'What party?' capital of the world.

I think of my body as a side effect of my mind. Like a thought I had once that manifested itself-- Oops! Oh no! Manifested. Look at this. Now we have to buy clothes and everything.

Sid said that drugs weren't the problem, life was the problem. Drugs were the solution.

I have two moods. One is Roy, rollicking Roy, the wild ride of a mood. And Pam, sediment Pam, who stands on the shore and sobs... Sometimes the tide is in, sometimes it's out.

I enjoy taking jobs that make fun of me - or me as Princess Leia, or me as the writer, or whatever, as some idea.

Everything is negotiable. Whether or not the negotiation is easy is another thing.

I started out doing my mother's nightclub act, and I had stage fright.

I am a very discreet human when it comes to other people.

Certainly there are people who like me, but then there are those who don't know me who gossip about me. You can't believe the things I've heard.

You can't find true affection in Hollywood because everyone does the fake affection so well.

I have a mess in my head sometimes, and there's something very satisfying about putting it into words. Certainly it's not something that you're in charge of, necessarily, but writing about it, putting it into your words, can be a very powerful experience.

No motive is pure. No one is good or bad-but a hearty mix of both. And sometimes life actually gives to you by taking away.

I don't want to be caught ... ashamed of anything. And because generally someone who has bipolar doesn't have just bipolar, they have bipolar, and they have a life and a job and a kid and a hat and parents, so its not your overriding identity, it's just something that you have, but not the only thing - even if it's quite a big thing.

You know the bad thing about being a survivor... You keep having to get into difficult situations in order to show off your gift.

If my life wasn't funny it would just be true, and that is unacceptable.

I get lots of awards for being mentally ill. Apparently, I am better at being mentally ill than almost anything else I've ever done. Seriously - I have a shelf of awards for being bipolar.

The older you get, the easier it is to spot the phonies. And I just think, how unpleasant for them.

My father just got out of the Betty Ford Clinic. He's in his 60s, and this was the first time he ever did anything like that.

It creates community when you talk about private things and you can find other people that have the same things. Otherwise, I don't know, I felt very lonely with some of the issues that I had or history that I had. And when I shared about it, I found that others had it, too.

I'm very sane about how crazy I am.

I rarely cry. I save my feelings up inside me like I have something more specific in mind for them. I am waiting for the exact perfect situationand then BOOM! I'll explode in a light show of feeling and emotion - a pinata stuffed with tender nuances and pent-up passions

It's hard to date once you're a big Star Wars star because you don't want to give people the ability to say, "I had sex with Princess Leia."

Life is a cruel, horrible joke and I am the punch line.

Happy is one of the many things I'm likely to be over the course of a day and certainly over the course of a lifetime. But I think if you have the expectation that you're going to be happy throughout your life--more to the point, if you have a need to be comfortable all the time--well, among other things, you have the makings of a classic drug addict or alcoholic.

From here on out, there's just reality. I think that's what maturity is: a stoic response to endless reality. But then, what do I know?

Your innermost urges will tell you what strategy to employ to accomplish your special purpose while doing the work you enjoy.

I always think of Meryl [Streep] for everything now. There really aren't many actresses around who are truly lucid the way she is.

You're only as sick as your secrets. Either it comes out their way or my way. I talk about myself behind my back. And I'm funny about it.

It creates community when you talk about private things and you can find other people that have the same things.

Having waited my entire life to get an award for something, anything...I now get awards all the time for being mentally ill. Itâ??s better than being bad at being insane, right? How tragic would it be to be runner-up for Bipolar Woman of the Year?

I mean, most fun things are bad for you in one way or another.

I love the idea of God, but it's not stylistically in keeping with the way I function. I would describe myself as an enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God. I can see that people who believe in God are happier. ... But I doubt.

A story a friend told me about being in New York and meeting this Latin-lover kind of guy. They went up to her hotel room, and the guy kind of pounced on her and told her to spread her legs, shouting, "Surrender the pink! Surrender the pink!" That's where it's from.

I've got to stop getting obsessed with human beings and fall in love with a chair. Chairs have everything human beings have to offer, and less, which is obviously what I need. Less emotional feedback, less warmth, less approval, less patience and less response. The less the merrier. Chairs it is. I must furnish my heart with feelings for furniture.

As you get older, the pickings get slimmer, but the people don't.

Here's how men think. Sex, work - and those are reversible, depending on age - sex, work, food, sports and lastly, begrudgingly, relationships. And here's how women think. Relationships, relationships, relationships, work, sex, shopping, weight, food.

I always just looked really like someone who will someday be on prescription medication.

I was into pain reduction and mind expansion, but what I've ended up with is pain expansion and mind reduction.

For Star Wars, they had me tape down my breasts because there are no breasts in space. I have some. I have two.

I'd like to wear my old [cinnamon buns] hairstyle again - but with white hair,

This actress named Lisa Eilbacher. I was up for the part in Shampoo and friends of mine kept telling me she was going around saying all these bad things about me. It's like we're still in the sixth grade sometimes.

Look,' he said, 'I don't think we should continue this discussion. I don't like this side of you.' 'I'm not a box,' she said 'I don't have sides. This is it. One side fits all. This is it.

There's no room for demons when you're self-possessed.

The only thing worse than being hurt is everyone knowing that you're hurt.

I've never been that uncomfortable talking about it. Things come out [in the media] about me. When it's out, it's someone else's version of what's the matter with me. I want it to be my version of what it is. My recourse is to do my version.

You know how I always seem to be struggling, even when the situation doesn't call for it?

I quote fictional characters, because I'm a fictional character myself!

Until adolescence I thought I had the best mother in the world. Such a graceful mother. I had this fantasy that I was the wrong daughter.

I like the community of acting better than the prison of writing. I like sets.

I mean, that's at least in part why I ingested chemical waste - it was a kind of desire to abbreviate myself. To present the CliffNotes of the emotional me, as opposed to the twelve-column read.

All I can say is that when millions of plastic dolls of you are being sold each day and an equal number of teenage boys are masturbating over you each night, it's bound to do something screwy to your psyche.

I guess high verbal skills are highest in my list of necessary qualifications for a man - for anyone actually. I like to talk. And I don't necessarily move far, but I move fast.

What doesn't kill men makes them stronger. What doesn't kill women makes men breakfast.

All my life I've been seeing things through the culture. My father, for instance, was the press's bad boy. People really hated him. He was always a big flirt. He was always in trouble - going bankrupt, whatever.

Celebrity is just obscurity biding its time.

Running for office is the least aerobic of the socially interactive sports ...

My inner world seems largely to consist of three rotating emotions: embarrassment, rage, and tension. Sometimes I feel excited, but I think that's just positive tension.

I'll never be known for my work with boundaries.

All I know is that you can chop up all the onions and the whatevers you want and put it on top of caviar, but you still can't disguise the fact that you're eating fish eggs. Ugh!

I Googled myself without lubricant. I don't recommend it.

Saying you're an alcoholic and an addict is like saying you're from Los Angeles and from California.

Nobody wants to read about a good-looking happy person.

I think of my body as a side effect of my mind.

I shot through my twenties like a luminous thread through a dark needle, blazing toward my destination: Nowhere.

I've often said to myself, "Thank God I can write, 'cause this is hilarious." I actually wanted to go into all that more in the book, but my editor thought it was too crazy.