What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder? How does one behave during this disor!

What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder? How does one behave during this disorder?

Examples would help...
Thanks

Just from the few people I know who have bipolar disorder, they seem to be high and happy, life is good and wonderful one moment but then another time they are morose, depressed, crying, very paranoid, sometimes destructive (self destructive or just plain destructive). They'll be talking about how they are going to conquer the world and bring peace and love to everyone and then a while later they are trying to burn down the house or talking about killing themselves. And you never know what is going to set them off, what little speck of floating lint is going to bring them down from their high (it seems to be easier to sink them from a high then to get them out of a funk into a high). And all of them I know complain that they hate their meds--but without them life for the rest of us with them is just too maniacal and scary. Their highs and lows are far more extreme then what others feel. And this isn't just a sometimes thing, it's a constant swinging from being high to low back to high, back to low. They might stay happy for many days but eventually you'll find them in a black, ugly state where they can't even listen to reason. And they'll be depressed for days, can't even sleep they are so depressed so now they have sleep deprivation on top of depression, but then they go out for a smoke and come back in singing and gloriously happy because the sun is shining and they want everyone to celebrate with them.