Alan Alda

What I always wanted to get seen as was as a good actor, when it was the acting I was doing. When I'm writing, I want to try to be seen as a good writer. Not as somebody with a particular idea to sell, or something like that. ”

There is a wonderful feeling of power when you're a director, but I don't think I need that, and I'm OK without it. ”

I'm most at home on the stage. ”

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. ”

No matter how big the audience is going to be. I'm interested in doing things that are fun. ”

You can't be aware of everything. You'd fall down the stairs if you were aware of every intricate thing involved in going down stairs. ”

I think it's important for scientists to speak in their own voices and not just be mediated by journalists or others speaking for them. ”

I have a strong preference for being alive. ”

M*A*S*H' was a collection of people, in front of and behind the cameras, that really clicked. ”

I made my first stage appearance when I was 6 months old. ”