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. – Alan Alda
Begin challenging your assumptions. Your assumptions are the windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile or the light won’t come in. – Alan Alda
Whenever I think of how much pleasure I have interviewing scientists, I remember that they’re having the real fun in actually being able to do the science. – Alan Alda
I find myself going to places where I really have no business, speaking to these people in a whole other field that I have no extensive knowledge of. But I do it very often because it scares me. – Alan Alda
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. – Alan Alda
I’ve been nominated twice before as actor in a leading part. Now I’m nominated as actor in a supporting part. If I don’t win, I’ll just wait until I’m nominated for being in the theater during the show. Do they have one like that? – Alan Alda
Achingly funny as it was, Larry Gelbart’s writing gave off sparks that turned a hard light on the way we are. – Alan Alda
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. – Alan Alda
I was a child, and my mother was psychotic. She loved me, but I didn’t really feel I had a mother. And when you live with somebody who is paranoid and thinks you’re trying to kill them all the time, you tend to feel a little betrayed. – Alan Alda
No, I never thought about my image. It interests me that there are people who do, that they seem to be methodical about it. – Alan Alda
In 2003, I almost died of an intestinal blockage when I was on a mountain in Chile, filming a segment for ‘Scientific American Frontiers.’ – Alan Alda
I was always interested in figuring things out. I’d do experiments, like combining things I found around the house to see what would happen if I put them together. – Alan Alda
You wouldn’t want to be called a sell-out by selling a product. Selling out was frowned on, whereas now you can major in it at business school. – Alan Alda
When I was about ten years old, I gave my teacher an April Fool’s sandwich, which had a dead goldfish in it. – Alan Alda
As an artist, as an actor, as a writer, you have to use what’s personal to you. You have to be personal about your work; otherwise, it doesn’t ring true. – Alan Alda
If scientists can’t communicate with the public, with policy makers, with one another, the future is going to be held back. We’re not going to have the future that we could have. – Alan Alda
What heartens me is to see ’30 Rock’ on the air. It makes me laugh from my gut, which I really like to do. – Alan Alda
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. – Alan Alda
Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart. – Alan Alda
The whole question of fiduciary responsibility is a very old concept. You could make a movie about someone making that rule at any point in history, and within a few months, it will turn out to be timely. – Alan Alda
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. – Alan Alda
I’m an angry person, angrier than most people would imagine, I get flashes of anger. What works for me is working out when it’s useful to use that anger. – Alan Alda
I found I wasn’t asking good enough questions because I assumed I knew something. I would box them into a corner with a badly formed question, and they didn’t know how to get out of it. Now, I let them take me through it step by step, and I listen. – Alan Alda
If scientists could communicate more in their own voices – in a familiar tone, with a less specialized vocabulary – would a wide range of people understand them better? Would their work be better understood by the general public, policy-makers, funders, and, even in some cases, other scientists? – Alan Alda
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. – Alan Alda
You know what my earliest memories are? Going from one burlesque town to another. My father was in burlesque. – Alan Alda