Alan Alda Quotes
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It's too bad I'm not as wonderful a person as people say I am, because the world could use a few people like that.
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There is a wonderful feeling of power when you're a director, but I don't think I need that, and I'm OK without it.
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The thing is when you're... well-enough known, you get asked to speak places, and they don't really think about whether or not you're qualified. They just want somebody that will be a drawing card for the audience. So it's up to you to decide whether or not it's foolish to get up and speak to these people.
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I was brought up as a Catholic, and I'm no longer a Catholic. I don't talk about my beliefs too much in public probably because I feel very strongly that it's something personal - more than personal, it's private.
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How can I ever hope to communicate something to you unless I get signals back from you that I'm on the right track or that I've started at some place that you're familiar with?
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It's really clear to me that you can't hang onto something longer than its time. Ideas lose certain freshness, ideas have a shelf life, and sometimes they have to be replaced by other ideas.
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You can't be aware of everything. You'd fall down the stairs if you were aware of every intricate thing involved in going down stairs.
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I come armed with a really good ignorance. I don't strive toward ignorance. I come by it naturally.
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What's funny is that you can think you really value your life until you almost lose it.
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Life is great-I wouldn't know what I'd do without it.
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I think the audience was aware that even when it was farcical, there was the sense that at some level this was about real experience.
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I think most people are interested in our origins; once we understand, it might be easier to become the people we'd like to be. Or, better, become the people we think we already are.
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I must have interviewed 600 or 700 scientists all around the world.
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I don't miss directing at all, and I don't miss screenwriting either because somebody's always telling you to do something different.
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Jean Paul Sartre says in "No Exit" that hell is other people. Well, our task in life is to make it heaven. Or at least earth.
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Marie Curie is my hero. Few people have accomplished something so rare - changing science. And as hard as that is, she had to do it against the tide of the culture at the time - the prejudice against her as a foreigner, because she was born in Poland and worked in France. And the prejudice against her as a woman.
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Being mystified is a good beginning, because you won't do what you've done before.
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What then are doing if not creating a better place together? I think, for me the key has to be, what do I want to create? What is it I want to leave behind?
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Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.
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I read science, because to me, that's extremely exciting. It's like a great detective story, and it's happening right in front of us.
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All I've ever tried to do is play real people.
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Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself.
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Don't be upset that it takes a long, long time to find wisdom because nobody knows where wisdom can be found. It tends to break out at unexpected times like a rare virus and mostly people with compassion and understanding are susceptible to it.
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If you don't listen deeply, the connection won't take place.... [You have to be] willing to be changed by the person you're listening to, where you're not just waiting for a pause so you can say your thing, but you're actually letting them have an effect on you if they can.