‘Star Trek’ is about acceptance, and the strength of the Starship Enterprise is that it embraces diversity in all its forms. – George Takei
At the core of ‘Star Trek’ is Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future. So much of science-fiction is about a dystopian society with human civilization having crumbled. He had an affirmative, shining, positive view of the future. – George Takei
I had convinced my father to let me pursue this career, and I passionately wanted it. And here was this conflict in me, and I hadn’t shared it with my father. And it was excruciating to always have your guard up. Particularly because, being an actor, you’re public and visible. I could be seen coming out of a gay bar. Who could have seen me? – George Takei
I think being optimistic is ensuring your success. If you start out saying ‘I’ve got this problem,’ or ‘I’m angry at that,’ you will not succeed. – George Takei
Yes, I remember the barbed wire and the guard towers and the machine guns, but they became part of my normal landscape. What would be abnormal in normal times became my normality in camp. – George Takei
The best way to get people to connect with an issue is to humanize it. You can do so much more powerfully with music and touch the heart. – George Takei
My memories of camp – I was four years old to eight years old – they’re fond memories. – George Takei
Back in the day, coming out was something very personal. You began by acknowledging the truth, first to yourself, then to close family and friends. Those of us more in the public spotlight, though, also had to ‘come out’ to the press. – George Takei
I’m an actor. I love acting and being able to use my love, my passion, to also contribute to making this a better society, a better democracy, and a better country. – George Takei
I’m particularly impressed by the creation of the character of Spock, which really was Leonard Nimoy’s singular creation. He used everything he had. – George Takei
In Indiana, gays and lesbians can be fired from their jobs with impunity, and in Arkansas, it’s the same thing. We need those protective laws to truly have an equal society. – George Takei
Children are amazingly adaptable. What would be grotesquely abnormal became my normality in the prisoner of war camps. It became routine for me to line up three times a day to eat lousy food in a noisy mess hall. It became normal for me to go with my father to bathe in a mass shower. – George Takei