Alan Alda Quotes

You can watch actors create their illusions, but if you don't see where they get the pigeons from, you don't really know how they're doing it.

I know there's a creative side to artists to - pardon me - there's a creative side to scientists already, but there may be an artistic side, too, waiting to break free.

Achingly funny as it was, Larry Gelbart's writing gave off sparks that turned a hard light on the way we are.

We're highly social animals - I'm told by scientists that what makes us different from other animals is an acute social awareness, which is what has made us so successful.

Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.

I wouldn't live in California. All that sun makes you sterile.

I don't really worry about the size of the part much any more. It's nice to have more time to work on the character, and to have big scenes to play. But if there's something playable there, and if it's interesting to do, then that's nice.

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.

Why would you give money to somebody whose work you don't understand?

I used to be a Catholic. I left because I object to conversion by concussion. If you don't agree with what they teach, you get clobbered over the head until you do. All that does is change the shape of the head.

I used to be an amateur inventor when I was a kid; I'm always inventing something.

I really don't like plays or movies that service propaganda.

I have a strong preference for being alive.

I think it's important for scientists to speak in their own voices and not just be mediated by journalists or others speaking for them.

Awards shows mainly publicize the people giving the awards.

I come armed with a really good ignorance. I don't strive toward ignorance. I come by it naturally.

When I am at a dinner table, I love to ask everybody, 'How long do you think our species might last?' I've read that the average age of a species, of any species, is about two million years. Is it possible we can have an average life span as a species? And do you picture us two million years more or a million and a half years, or 5,000?

When I was in high school, I fell under the spell of that crazy idea that if you're interested in the arts, you can't be interested in science.

When does she do all this thinking? We're together all the time but she thinks deeply about things and with feeling and she can remember the facts. We've been married 48 years.

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.

It's a funny feeling to work with people who you consider your colleagues and to realize that they actually are young enough to be your children.

When I was about ten years old, I gave my teacher an April Fool's sandwich, which had a dead goldfish in it.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.

What is beauty, anyway? It's more than something pleasant looking. If it doesn't stop us in our tracks and make us unable to move for a moment, unable to put into words what's closing off the breath in our throats, then maybe it's pretty, but it probably isn't beauty.

The hardest thing for me about making movies, and that included 'M*A*S*H' because it was made like a movie, was starting and stopping.

I'm condemned by some inner compulsion to think about the daily rituals of my life. I have a low grade fever for improving myself in many ways, including everyday tasks.

What's funny is that you can think you really value your life until you almost lose it.

Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they're fair with you.

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.

It's very important for us to see that science is done by people, not just brains but whole human beings, and sometimes at great cost.

I must have interviewed 600 or 700 scientists all around the world.

What I always wanted to get seen as was as a good actor, when it was the acting I was doing. When I'm writing, I want to try to be seen as a good writer.

On the stage, the characters express themselves more through words than images. So the arguments of the characters and the tension between characters - words have to be used to express that, and I love that about theater.

It isn't necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It's only necessary to be rich.

If I can't get the girl, at least give me more money.

My background is on the stage, so when I'd write movies, they'd be a lot like plays.

Backstage life is terrific training for an actor, seeing shows from the wings.

Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.

I used to not want to die in any way but in my sleep when I was a young man. I'd like to die awake now, if possible, with people around me who love me.

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.

In 2003, I almost died of an intestinal blockage when I was on a mountain in Chile, filming a segment for 'Scientific American Frontiers.'

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.

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.

You know what my earliest memories are? Going from one burlesque town to another. My father was in burlesque.

Almost everybody that's well-known gets tagged with a nickname.

Kids are natural scientists.

Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.

I always loved Sid Caesar and all the people on his program.

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.

It makes it fun. When an actor plays a character, you want what that character wants. Otherwise it doesn't look authentic. So I really want to defeat Jimmy - I mean Jimmy as the character.