Quotes from Alan Alda

War is war and Hell is hell, and if you ask me, War is a lot worse.

Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.

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?

Ignorance was my ally as long as it was backed up by curiosity. Ignorance without curiosity is not so good, but with curiosity it was the clear water through which I could see the coins at the bottom of the fountain.

Communication doesn't take place because you tell somebody something. It takes place when you observe them closely and track their ability to follow you. Like

For humans, flying isn't magic, it's physics.

You can tell a lot about people by the way they treat the help.

I would come in armed with only curiosity, and my own natural ignorance. I was learning the value of bringing my ignorance to the surface... Ignorance was my ally, as long as it was backed up by curiosity. Ignorance without curiosity is not so good, but with curiosity, it was the clear water through which I could see the coins at the bottom of the fountain.

My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six.

Sometimes, being willing to see the other person means you have to be willing to let them see you.

I used to read science fiction a lot, and I still like science fiction when it is a model of how we really are and to see ourselves from another perspective.

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've been lucky enough to live through all the things that are supposed to give meaning to our lives, like parenting, grandparenting, art, celebrity. All these things you expect meaning to come from, and sometimes it comes when you're not expecting it.

The idea that the brain is not fully formed until you are almost 30 years old has already been introduced, and the Supreme Court already has based two rulings on it.

My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six, but she must have shown signs of oddness before that.

When people are laughing, they're generally not killing one another.

Aren't we lucky to be us?

People who laugh together generally don't kill each other.

I found I wasn't asking good enough questions because I assumed I knew something.

Our lives depend on good communication. Good communication helps personal relationships, it helps bosses and employees get along better. We rely on it.

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?

Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe - you can't take a taxi.

Real listening is a willingness to let the other person change you.

I don't watch that much TV, so I can't compare one show to another. When I watch television, I watch people talking to one another usually or a science show where they show me microbes, you know. Microbes actually communicate quite a bit, and so there's a lot of talking going on.