It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It’s only necessary to be rich.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
(Attributed)
Quotations by:
Alda, Alan
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 (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, ch. 2 “Lingering at the Door” (2007)
(Source)
Originally given at the commencement speech at Connecticut College in May, 1980, where his daughter Eve was graduating.
Here’s my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: be fair with others, but then keep after them until they’re fair with you.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.
I used to be afraid that writing and acting in comedies might be a frivolous occupation, but when I think about all the good that laughing does for people, I get the feeling that making people laugh can be noble work.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.
A peach is not its fuzz, a toad is not its warts, a person is not his or her crankiness. If we can make distinctions, we can be tolerant, and we can get to the heart of our problems instead of wrestling endlessly with their gross exteriors.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.
Don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself. Laugh at yourself, but don’t doubt yourself.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.
Love your work. If you always put your heart into everything you do, you really can’t lose. If your heart is in it, you’ll probably succeed, and if it isn’t in it, you probably won’t succeed. But the reason you can’t lose is that whether you wind up making a lot of money or not, you will have had a wonderful time, and no one will ever be able to take that away from you.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.
I want you to know that it’s okay to be uncertain. I’m uncertain, too. In a world like this, it’s appropriate to be uncertain.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.
Maybe it was my natural optimism at work, but what I saw and warmed to in the existentialist writings was that life is meaningless unless you bring meaning to it; that it is up to us to create our own existence. Unless you do something, unless you make something it’s as though you aren’t there.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)
Full text.