Top 90 Alan Alda Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “There’s plenty of money to be had. But you also lose your soul.”

— Alan Alda

52. “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?”

— Alan Alda

53. “It’s not an epitaph. I felt I could look back at my life and get a good story out of it. It’s a picture of somebody trying to figure things out. I’m not trying to create some impression about myself. That doesn’t interest me.”

— Alan Alda

54. “If a rattlesnake thinks he can swallow a mouse, he probably can. Don’t assume you think like a snake unless you are one.”

— Alan Alda

55. “There are two things that I get a lot of pleasure from in my life, and that is, doing what I know how to do well – that really makes me happy. The other one, and probably an equal pleasure, is finding out how I can be helpful and then really being helpful.”

— Alan Alda

56. “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

57. “Really top-notch directors, I’ve often worked with them just to see how they work.”

— Alan Alda

58. “While leadership is important, just as important is how leadership is communicated. On the one hand, you can command good performance from someone in exchange for not firing them. On the other hand, you might be able to ignite the desire in a person to perform well by tuning in to their state of mind.”

— Alan Alda

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

— Alan Alda

60. “And I think belief is one of those things that comes to people in their own way. And just because I believe in something doesn’t mean I think that you should.”

— Alan Alda

61. “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

62. “I’ve played a murderer, so certainly I think I can play a Republican.”

— Alan Alda

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

— Alan Alda

64. “If I’m trying to explain something and you don’t follow me, it’s not simply your job to catch up. It’s my job to slow down. This is at the heart of communicating: If I tell you something without making sure you got it, did I really communicate anything? Was I talking to you, or was I just making noises? In the mirror exercise, is the leader enabling the follower to follow, or is he just waving his arms?”

— Alan Alda

65. “Allowing this childish curiosity to continue on my whole life has given me a sense of satisfaction, and maybe even a sense of meaning. No matter how old I get I have the feeling that if I can keep this curiosity flame lit I will see the world in a way that never gets stale... life will have a taste that delights.”

— Alan Alda

66. “We were developing empathy and the ability to be aware of what was happening in the mind of another person. This, we realized, is the key, the fundamental ingredient without which real communication can’t happen. Developing empathy and learning to recognize what the other person is thinking are both essential to good communication, and are what this book is about.”

— Alan Alda

67. “Don’t be upset that it takes a long, long time to find wisdom because nobody knows where wisdom can be found. It tends to break out at unexpected times like a rare virus and mostly people with compassion and understanding are susceptible to it.”

— Alan Alda

68. “I really don’t like plays or movies that service propaganda.”

— Alan Alda

69. “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.”

— Alan Alda

70. “I had always wondered why people wanted to be rich and famous. If you could be rich and anonymous, that would be fun. To be famous and not rich, the way we were, was the least fun. It takes time and effort to be famous, and if they offer you fame without the money, don’t take it. It’s a scam.”

— Alan Alda

71. “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

72. “If you know what you’re looking for, that’s all you’ll get – what’s previously known. But when you’re open to what’s possible, you get something new – that’s creativity.”

— Alan Alda

73. “It’s being so aware of the other person that, even if you have your back to them, you’re observing them. It’s letting everything about them affect you; not just their words, but also their tone of voice, their body language, even subtle things like where they’re standing in the room or how they occupy a chair. Relating is letting all that seep into you and have an effect on how you respond to the other person.”

— Alan Alda

74. “You’re going to learn if something’s bad. It’s not like you’re going to say, ‘Well, that lion was really unpleasant. I think maybe I’ll come back here and see if I like it the next time.”

— Alan Alda

75. “Not being truly engaged with the people we’re trying to communicate with, and then suffering the snags of misunderstanding, is the grit in the gears of daily life.”

— Alan Alda

76. “Aristotle is often quoted as saying that a story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. That’s true, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. After all, a dead cat has a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

— Alan Alda

77. “Anesthetized by youth, I missed it.”

— Alan Alda

78. “There is no hidden meaning to life... looking for one is our problem solving brain chasing its tail.”

— Alan Alda

79. “I was what came to mind when there was blood on the floor.”

— Alan Alda

80. “I hope they’ll pay attention not so much to the mechanical things, like a sudden change of pace in a talk or a sudden change in volume of their voice. I hope they’ll pay attention, instead, to the fundamental source of that pacing and volume, which is the connection with the other person. That connection makes us respond like a leaf in the breeze to whatever is happening in the faces of those in front of us.”

— Alan Alda

81. “I’m in this wonderful position where I can do what interests me. And whatever comes along that interests me, I do. The rest of the time I bother scientists about communicating.”

— Alan Alda

82. “As long as it doesn’t seem fake, the more we establish familiarity with our audience – not speaking to them from left field or from on high – the better chance we have that they’ll listen to what we have to say. And possibly even accept it.”

— Alan Alda

83. “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.”

— Alan Alda

84. “Starting with a gray cloud of brain cells that was subject to storms and flash floods, I had to learn to make my own internal weather.”

— Alan Alda

85. “When people are laughing, they’re generally not killing one another.”

— Alan Alda

86. “In fact, it’s not until about the age of four or five that it even occurs to children that deception is possible. There’s no point in lying if everybody knows what you’re thinking!”

— Alan Alda

87. “I’ve been an improviser since I was in my twenties. There’s really no failing in improv. You just go on to the next thing.”

— Alan Alda

88. “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

89. “Most research, I think, can only suggest, or point toward, an insight of some kind.”

— Alan Alda

90. “You could measure how long I would remember that moment by the redness of my cheeks. My father saw that I liked projects and taught me how to make lamps out of Chianti bottles.”

— Alan Alda

91. “I took a bold step and stopped reading the scientists’ research papers before I met with them. I would come in armed only with curiosity and my own natural ignorance. I was learning the value of bringing my ignorance to the surface. The scientists could see exactly how much I already understood, and they could start there.”

— Alan Alda

92. “My kidneys were expecting orange juice. Silly kidneys.”

— Alan Alda

93. “Being truly connected to the other person happens when we see them in a way that’s both emotional and rational, especially if we include listening with our eyes: looking for clues in the face, in gestures – in all the nonverbal signs of a state of mind. It’s complete and total listening. First, it’s understanding what another person is feeling – what’s usually called empathy – and second, an awareness of what another person is thinking – what scientists call Theory of Mind.”

— Alan Alda