"Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die"
About this Quote
Resentment, in Carrie Fisher's hands, gets yanked out of the realm of noble suffering and rebranded as self-harm with better PR. The image is blunt on purpose: not a vaguely unhealthy habit, not a moral failing, but poison. It lands because it collapses the fantasy at the center of grievance culture - that your bitterness is a kind of leverage, a slow-acting punishment delivered through sheer intensity of feeling. Fisher’s metaphor makes that delusion look ridiculous: the target isn’t even in the room, and you’re the one swallowing.
The subtext is very Fisher: wry, unsentimental, and quietly autobiographical. She lived in public, survived addiction, navigated fame’s humiliations, and became a sharp chronicler of coping mechanisms that masquerade as strength. Resentment fits right alongside substances and compulsions: it provides a hit of righteousness, a story where you’re the injured party, the moral accountant keeping receipts. The cost is internal. You don’t just replay the injury; you metabolize it.
The intent isn’t to sanctify forgiveness or let anyone off the hook. It’s closer to harm reduction. Fisher is arguing for emotional triage: if you keep ingesting the narrative of what was done to you, you outsource your peace to someone who may never apologize, never understand, never change. The line works because it’s as much diagnosis as it is dare - stop confusing pain with power, and stop handing your body the bill for someone else’s behavior.
The subtext is very Fisher: wry, unsentimental, and quietly autobiographical. She lived in public, survived addiction, navigated fame’s humiliations, and became a sharp chronicler of coping mechanisms that masquerade as strength. Resentment fits right alongside substances and compulsions: it provides a hit of righteousness, a story where you’re the injured party, the moral accountant keeping receipts. The cost is internal. You don’t just replay the injury; you metabolize it.
The intent isn’t to sanctify forgiveness or let anyone off the hook. It’s closer to harm reduction. Fisher is arguing for emotional triage: if you keep ingesting the narrative of what was done to you, you outsource your peace to someone who may never apologize, never understand, never change. The line works because it’s as much diagnosis as it is dare - stop confusing pain with power, and stop handing your body the bill for someone else’s behavior.
Quote Details
| Topic | Forgiveness |
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