Carrie Fisher

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.

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

It's the most amazing thing to be able to forgive.

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 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.

I think that the truth is a really stern taskmistress.

I'm very sane about how crazy I am.

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

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.'

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

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.

Leia follows me like a vague smell.

I have a harder time eating properly than I do exercising. It's easier for me to add an activity than to deny myself something. And when I do lose the weight, I don't like that it makes me feel good about myself. It's not who I am.

I have been Princess Leia exclusively. It's been a part of my life for 40 years.

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

I have been in 'Star Wars' since I was 20. And they're not just doing some goofy sequel, like, to service the hunger of it. It actually has been thought out and it has integrity and they took it seriously, which they didn't have to do, you know? It's hard to do, given the appetite and the angles from which everybody's coming at it.

I like performing. I like partnering with an audience.

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

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

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.

I trust myself. I trust my instincts. I know what I'm gonna do, what I can do, what I can't do. I've been through a lot, and I could go through more, but I hope I don't have to. But if I did, I'd be able to do it. I'm not going to enjoy dying, but there's not much prep for that.

Females get hired along procreative lines. After 40, we're kind of cooked.

You knew how humiliating that is as an experience for celebrities to be less of a celebrity. There's no class to adjust to being less famous, and you don't think you have to worry about it. But you do.

Anything you can do in excess for the wrong reasons is exciting to me.

People are still asking me if I knew Star Wars was going to be that big of a hit. Yes, we all knew. The only one who didn't know was George.

Along with aging comes life experience, so in every way that is consistent with even being human, Leia has changed.

The manic end of is a lot of fun.

I watched my parents' fame diminish - as I was getting more conscious, their celebrity was going back down the mountain.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

I am a spy in the house of me. I report back from the front lines of the battle that is me. I am somewhat nonplused by the event that is my life.

I don't like looking at myself. I have such bad body dysmorphia.

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

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.

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

Drugs made me feel more normal.

What I wrote all the time when I was a kid - I don't want to call it 'poetry,' because it wasn't poetry. I was not that kind of a writer. I was a rhymer. I was a fan of Dorothy Parker's, so maybe I wrote poetry to that extent, but my main focus was the humor of it, and word construction, and the slant. Your words, it's a very powerful experience.

I don't want to be a victim.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

We treat beauty like an accomplishment, and that is insane. Everyone in L.A. says, 'Oh, you look good,' and you listen for them to say you've lost weight. It's never 'How are you?' or 'You seem happy!'

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

Going through challenging things can teach you a lot and they also make you appreciate the times that arent so challenging.

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'll never be known for my work with boundaries.

I knew what show business was, which was why I didn't want in on that action. I saw what happens! You get it, and then you lose it.

I'm in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance. That is so messed up. They might as well say 'Get younger,' because that's how easy it is.

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.

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

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 was born into big celebrity. It could only diminish.

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

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.

You get to choose what monsters you want to slay. I'm sorry to say this again, but let's face it - the Force is with you.

Writing is a very calming thing for me.

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.

I am truly a product of Hollywood in-breeding. When two celebrities mate, someone like me is the result.

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

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.

It really annoys me that I'm vain, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to discard that tendency.

What I always wanna tell young people now: Pay attention. This isn't gonna happen again. Rather than try to understand it as it's going along, have it go along for a while and then understand it.

Instant gratification takes too long.

In the Fifties, my parents were known as 'America's sweethearts'. Their pictures graced the covers of all the newspapers. They were the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston of their day.

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

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.

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

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