Lynn Redgrave Quotes

With my father and sister being very depressed for most of their lives, it was incumbent on me to try to make them laugh, in this ridiculous way. They were the wittiest people I knew, but to get a smile from them was like winning the lottery.

I was the sibling that kind of kept it all on a level when life at home got tough. I did it through comedy, sarcasm and distraction. All families are complicated, but my home life was glaringly uncomfortable much of the time, and it was me that took the onus.

My family is as complicated as the next family. We have our joys and our tragedies, and we bear both with a black humour that is in our genes.

My family are all mad. But I got a lot of strength from them.

Being the youngest of five, you're adored, you're fueled with confidence.

My whole family, my father's side, there was a great deal of depression, and my mother's side as well.

My father's violence is the central fact of my art and my life.

When I was growing up my mother would say, 'Your dad may have to learn about being a father because he lost his own and that would have affected him'.

I'm a family-based person, even though we didn't exactly have a very happy family. I was never in any doubt that this was a centre of writing.

Happy families do have certain things in common. Today we finally have the knowledge to know what those things are.

The women in my family are all super-emotional. The catchphrase in our family is 'Listen to my words, not my tears.'

My parents were not perfect, but no one's parents are. As childhoods go, mine was pretty comfortable and good in a lot of ways, and yet I still ended up with anxiety.

My father died when I was seven, leaving a widow and five sons, ranging in age from five to seventeen. My mother was the most highly-disciplined and hardest working person I have ever known, and this, combined with her love and gentleness, enabled her to make a success of each of her children.

My advice to people with any disease is to live above it.

Some families can experience terrible tragedy and deal with it, and others not. I find those things fascinating.

Pain has been part of my life. I don't complain about much. When you grow up with six boys, you can't show your pain, and if you do, they'll give you another piece of pain.

I knew for years I wanted to write a novel that addressed the personal trauma of my older sister, who suffered - and still suffers - from mental illness. For a long time I imagined - and I know it's absurd - that she was an indirect casualty of the Vietnam War.

My mum really depended on me. I'm the eldest of three girls, and she had emotional issues.

No child, through her own will, can pull a mother out of her suffering, and as an adult, I have been very busy.

The truth is, we like to talk over our disasters, because they are ours; and others like to listen, because they are not theirs.

Now, now," my father said. "Let's just get the bags." This was typical. My father, the lone male in our estrogen-heavy household, had always dealt with any kind of emotional situation or conflict by doing something concrete and specific. Discussion of cramps and heavy flow at the breakfast table? He was up and out the door to change oil on one of our cars. Coming home in tears for reasons you just didn't want to discuss? He'd go make you a grilled cheese, which he'd probably end up eating. Family crisis brewing in a public place? Bags. Get the bags.

The art of life is not controlling what happens to us, but using what happens to us

I feel like since I've had a child I've become a better problem-solver, because you just have to! I have to be positive for him for sure, but it's not even about thinking about it. It's just how to make this work, and it can get pretty nutty, but it's fun too!

It was not facing what life dealt that made you crazy, but rather trying to set life straight where it was unstraightenable.

No matter whether your life is pleasant or good; whether you are having big challenges or no challenges, your state of your mind has everything to do with how you will relate to your experiences.