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For a while in my teens, I was sure I had it. It was about getting to heaven. If heaven existed and lasted forever, then a mere lifetime spent scrupulously following orders was a small investment for an infinite payoff.

Alan Alda

Working on The West Wing was similar in many ways to my experience on M*A*S*H, because you had people willing to work late at night to get it just right.
ALAN ALDA

Late Many Night People Similar Way West Willing Wing Work
Don’t ever aim doubt at yourself. Laugh at yourself, but don’t doubt yourself.
ALAN ALDA

Aim Doubt Laugh Yourself
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

Acute Animal Awareness Different Highly Other Scientist Social Successful
I’ve never tried to manipulate my image.
ALAN ALDA

Image Manipulate Try
I play tennis non-obsessively. I seem to beat people I play a lot or half the time, so I guess I gravitate to people who are as bad as I am.
ALAN ALDA

Bad Beat Gravitate Half Non-obsessively People Play Seem Tennis Time
All these things you expect meaning to come from, and sometimes it comes when you’re not expecting it.
ALAN ALDA

All Thing Come Expect Meaning Sometimes
I’m in the real world, some people try to steal from me, and I stop them, frequently, take them to court. I love a good lawsuit. It’s fun.
ALAN ALDA

Court Frequent People Real Some Steal Stop Them
The one hour live debate in the West Wing that we did was one of the most exciting times for me on stage or on camera, because anything could go wrong.
ALAN ALDA

Anything Camera Debate Hour Love Most Excite One Stage Time Wrong
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

Being During Like Nominate Show Theatre Until Win
[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.
ALAN ALDA

Actual Effect Let Listen Pause Person Wait Will Change
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.
ALAN ALDA

All Dep Feel Married Think Time Together
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in.
ALAN ALDA

Assumption Awhile Come Every Light One Scrub Window World
I really don’t like plays or movies that service propaganda.
ALAN ALDA

Like Movie Play Propaganda Really Service
What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.
ALAN ALDA

Discover Wonderful Yourself
Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.
ALAN ALDA

Being Change Listen Other Person
Here’s my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: Be fair with others, but keep after them until they’re fair with you.
ALAN ALDA

Age Fair Golden Other Rule Tarnish Until
This gets us back to that most pressing of human questions: why do people worry so much about other people’s holding beliefs other than their own?
ALAN ALDA

Belief Hold Human Own People Press Question Worry
Nothing important was ever accomplished without chutzpah. Columbus had chutzpah. The signers of the Declaration of Independence had chutzpah.
ALAN ALDA

Accomplish Chutzpah Country Ever Important Nothing
I dont see we can have a separation of church and state in this government if you have to pass a religious test to get in this government.
ALAN ALDA

Church Government Pass Religious Separate State Test
For humans, flying isn’t magic, it’s physics.
ALAN ALDA

Fly Human Magic Physics
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.
ALAN ALDA

Earth Exit Heaven Make Other People Say
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed is really advice to myself, a reminder to myself not to avoid change or uncertainty, but to go with it, to surf into change.
ALAN ALDA

Advice Avoid Change Dog Remember Stuff Surf
People who laugh together generally don’t kill each other.
ALAN ALDA

Each Kill Laugh Other People Together
The other one, and probably an equal pleasure, is finding out how I can be helpful and then really being helpful.
ALAN ALDA

Equal Helpful One Other Pleasure Probably
You wouldn’t want to be called a sell-out by selling a product.
ALAN ALDA

Business Call Out Product School Self
Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.
ALAN ALDA

Always Better Remember Smart Wise
Musicals are hard for me because I got thrown out of the glee club in high school, because I couldn’t sing in tune at the time.
ALAN ALDA

Club Glee High Musical School Thrown Time Tune

For a while in my teens, I was sure I had it. It was about getting to heaven. If heaven existed and lasted forever, then a mere lifetime spent scrupulously following orders was a small investment for an infinite payoff.

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For a while in my teens, I was sure I had it. It was about getting to heaven. If heaven existed and lasted forever, then a mere lifetime spent scrupulously following orders was a small investment for an infinite payoff.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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