Linda Blair Quotations

It's difficult to understand why people don't realize that pets are gifts to mankind.

People always joke that 'dog' spells 'god' backwards. They should consider that it might be the higher power coming down to see just how well they do, what kind of people they are. The animals are right here, right in front of us. And how we treat these companions is a test.

When I was 13 I asked my mother if it was possible for this to end - I'd had enough of it. And that was right about the time that we got a call for 'The Exorcist' interview.

The animals are right here, right in front of us. And how we treat these companions is a test.

There was a golden retriever who saved countless lives on September 11 by going back in to find people. His companion was in a wheelchair. He got him out and kept going back in to save others.

If I had children, I would be very selfish. I wouldn't be out doing things. But by not having kids, it makes me freer to travel the world and talk about things I feel are important.

The Exorcist has been a very interesting cross to bear.

To ignore one's spiritual self is unsettling, to say the least. That's a very profound outlook on it.

I was so sad from losing two of my dogs and my mother. I had this vision of all these animals sitting behind bars. They had no control and were scared. That's why I got into fostering and adopting animals out.

One of the reasons I don't have kids is because I think people would have been very unfair to them. Think of it. You're still asking me questions about The Exorcist.

I've lived through what seems to most - and myself - many lives.

Kids shouldn't see all the violence they do these days. But the industry just doesn't care.

Of all the projects I've worked on, I've never worked with another director like Billy Friedkin. I think he's a genius.

Modern parents want a warm and loving relationship with their children, and to be a source of encouragement, comfort and support. We want to be friends without children, not remote or frightening authority figures as our own parents may have been.

I had planned to retire when I was 13, ... I had wanted to be a veterinarian.

I thought it was very odd that I had a cross and that I was sticking it in a box saying terrible language. But I have to say that I did not understand.

The Amish do many other things that are good. Let them do that. Let the animals go.

We end up producing the opposite of what we intended, and turn our children into unpopular, isolated adults.

What we have to remember is that children matter as much as adults, but they aren't equal with adults

It's hard to understand how people can walk away from their homes and assume that their animal will fend for itself. We are the providers - the ones who need to provide the warmth, the protection, the food, the water.

They were very persistent. They didn't stop writing or calling.

I have never seen so many celebrities and their pets in one place, giving such support to the cause of protecting animal rights. Protecting their rights should always be our first priority.

All these years later, the world knows who I am, ... When it was first released, nobody understood who I was.

I have to entertain myself. An easy way to explain it is I worked in NY since I was five-years-old doing modeling and commercials, and that's a completely different world than in California where I think there's different dreams and aspirations of maybe being a so-called 'star' and so forth. Here you do your work, whether it's theater or commercials.

Look what they did to MaCauley Culkin. The poor child. I know because I've been there. But I could say after living my life, truth will always win out. And no one can take my character away from me anymore.

I have done, I hope to say I've done things to help make a difference while I'm on this earth. Are animal issues most important to me? Absolutely. I have an affinity with them, but I also care about children and the elderly and always say that the rest of everybody else can fend for themselves because we're in a age where we can. And we're all able to do so.

While you're in the moment of anything that's confusing in your life, you're in the moment, and you have to figure it out. You can go up or down. And I just kept working on the higher road, and trying. I got very involved with medication.

I was lucky. I had some really good people that were just here there and wherever who would come into my life that I felt would answer questions. I mean, I had some very powerful questions myself for what this earth was all about.

I think that if I'd not made the movie, I might be a veterinarian in Connecticut. I would probably be married with some children. That's probably the way it would be. But because of the film [the Exorcist], I don't have a normal life by somebody else's standards.

If you know me, I don't live in this dismal world. I mean, I like to have fun. My friends are comedians.

I like having little kids look at me. It's fun. They make these little faces.

As all my friends said, 'Linda, enjoy this time.' It wasn't enjoyable the first time because they're were too many questions. But I think I've lived a solid life. You can look at who I've been, good, bad or indifferent.

It's a masterpiece [The Exorcist]. This is an honor. I know you may not think so, but it really is. How many movies in our lifetime? This is an honor.

I had no way to have a sense of humor about The Exorcist. I didn't know how. And this enabled me.

I work more than people realize. It doesn't mean you always see the project. Look at how many stations we have. I did a couple films in Australia. I like the movies.

When I was thirteen I basically asked my mother if it was possible for this to end, that I'd had enough of it. And I truly had had enough. And that was right about the time that we got a call for a movie interview.

Modeling was pretty difficult back then. I did not find the business something that I had an interest in. I wanted to be a veterinarian.

Now I figured this out recently, pretty much if you ask anybody to be part of a movie, they get a smile on their face. They do! People are like, Movie! Ya know, I don't know. There's something that's magical about it.

I can't answer for my mother. She was a very private person, and did not discuss a lot of things.

For me reading the book [The Exorcist], I had the same questions that everyone else had. How does she jump up and down off the bed? How does her head spin around? How does she throw up?

I didn't have a clue. I grew up Protestant in Connecticut at the Saugatuck Congregational Church. We didn't talk about the devil. That's Catholicism. And so, that was my safety net. And I always say, it's probably a good thing they didn't hire a Catholic child, who may have heard about the devil, the things that were in the closet. And no one wanted to discuss them.

We didn't talk about devil on the set. My mother and I didn't talk about it. Billy Friedkin and I didn't talk about it. It was a closet subject. But it was the best thing that happened because I had no idea what I was going.

People need to understand; I may have been very innocent. Didn't understand the devil. Didn't understand any of that. You can only push a child so far. You have laws; number one. And number two; I had been doing this so long, I could say now that I don't want to do something. But after a certain while, they knew when they had pushed their luck with me, and that it was time to, you know, maybe back off.

The only thing I can say is that people requested,when The Exorcist it going to be on the big screen? People want it on the big screen and they want to see the footage. I think it's going to do very well. I think it will please people, and the fact that they added the new sound.

Of course The Exorcist changed my entire life. I don't think there are very many people that will have the experience of sitting in this room, doing a job, and the next thing you know you've been on every television camera around the world, and people are they're frightened of you.

We have a deep need to affiliate, to be around people, and no creature on earth spends as much of its life depending on others as we do

Its difficult to understand why people don't realize that pets are gifts to mankind

Warner Brothers had to hire [a stunt double] and no one thought a child could do this. Billy Friedkin came to me before we were filming [The Exorcist] and said ,if you do not do all of this film, the film will be a joke.It's why they stripped the makeup down to the bare minimum, a piece on my chin, piece across my mouth that disfigured my mouth. You have scars here. Take away my eyebrows. It was my real hair. Shampoo was put in it that dried.

I have been a vegetarian for about 10 years. And it really was due to the reading that I did. And they explain so that you understand why it's important for the planet's survival along with compassion for animals. It certainly made it much easier for me. I lost weight really fast. My mother died from cancer so this is all very personal to me. And I just would like the planet to be a better place. And I think you'll find a vegetarian diet to be really incredible these days

Turkeys are misunderstood. Once I adopted turkeys, I understood this large bird to be a great companion.

I've had people appear in my life that have helped me. I had more fun. I approached it thinking how would Jack Nicholson, "How would he do it?" So that's really what I did was I created this Gremlin character. So now people come up and they say 'Oh The Exorcist!'.. and I'm like "Did you see Repossessed?" They say either no or yes or whatever, and I say look at this, have a laugh, and then go back and look at a masterpiece .

I did a series for teenagers and kids called S-Club 7 in LA for Fox Family Channel. And I did it because the children, everybody's children, they don't know who I am. They know I'm the-lady-in-the-movie-they-can't-see. And I was actually offended by that because I think I've done a lot of wonderful work.

No animal has to suffer for me to live.