What I can't completely understand is most other people's fascination with what the famous among us do with their lips and the rest of their bodies. Why do ordinary people become the target of this curiosity simply by virtue of the fact that other people recognize their names and faces but know nothing else about them? Why do we care what they think, what they wear, what they eat?
Alan AldaThe 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 AldaMy mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six, but she must have shown signs of oddness before that.
Alan AldaBegin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.
Alan AldaThe difference between listening and pretending to listen, I discovered, is enormous. One is fluid, the other is rigid. One is alive, the other is stuffed. Eventually, I found a radical way of thinking about listening. Real listening is a willingness to let the other person change you. When Iโm willing to let them change me, something happens between us thatโs more interesting than a pair of dueling monologues.
Alan Alda