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 More Quotes by Alan Alda More Quotes From Alan Alda In the midst of the sense of tragedy or loss, sometimes laughter is not only healing, it's a way of experiencing the person that you've lost again. Alan Alda laughter healing loss Be brave enough to live creatively . . . what you'll discover will be wonderful: yourself. Alan Alda intuition brave wonderful 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 tasks heaven people For me, I find that even though I've accomplished a few things in my life, looking back on accomplishments doesn't give me a sense of satisfaction. Alan Alda accomplishment satisfaction giving 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. Alan Alda catholic too-much belief I've played a murderer, so certainly I think I can play a Republican. Alan Alda republican play thinking I had never really wanted to be famous. Everyone is supposed to want to be rich and famous, but as a boy I never knew what rich was, and the first view I had of famous made me leery. Alan Alda views want boys 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. I can sing in tune now, but I have to work really hard on it to make sure that I don't exercise one of my great talents, which is the ability to sing in three keys at the same time. Alan Alda keys exercise school I try to find out what there is in the character that in a way, you can't put into words. If I could put it into words, then it wouldn't be a performance. And if I do put it into words, as I play it, I start to get boxed in by those words. Alan Alda play trying character If you don't listen deeply, the connection won't take place.... [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 connections waiting listening A really great actor, in a lucky performance, can transform himself or herself. I've seen actors do that. But often it's a mechanical transformation, which isn't as interesting, and you've got to be careful how you go about something like that, I think. Alan Alda actors interesting thinking Life is great-I wouldn't know what I'd do without it. Alan Alda life-is-great life-is knows I really don't like plays or movies that service propaganda. Alan Alda propaganda play Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while or the light won't come in. If you challenge your own, you won't be so quick to accept the unchallenged assumptions of others. You'll be a lot less likely to be caught up in bias or prejudice or be influenced by people who ask you to hand over your brains, your soul or your money because they have everything all figured out for you. Alan Alda light hands people Insanity is just a state of mind. Alan Alda states mind insanity I still don't like the word agnostic. It's too fancy. I'm simply not a believer. But, as simple as this notion is, it confuses some people. Someone wrote a Wikipedia entry about me, identifying me as an atheist because I'd said in a book I wrote that I wasn't a believer. I guess in a world uncomfortable with uncertainty, an unbeliever must be an atheist, and possibly an infidel. 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 atheist simple book 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. And I want to warn everyone in the press and all the voters out there: if you demand expressions of religious faith from politicians, you are just begging to be lied to. They wont all lie to you but a lot of them will. And itll be the easiest lie they ever had to tell to get your votes. So every day till the end of this campaign, Ill answer any question anyone has on government, but if you have a question on religion, please, go to church. Alan Alda government religious lying War is war and Hell is hell, and if you ask me, War is a lot worse. Alan Alda ask-me hell war For humans, flying isn't magic, it's physics. Alan Alda magic physics flying The best things said come last. People will talk for hours saying nothing much and then linger at the door with words that come with a rush from the heart. Alan Alda farewell heart goodbye
