George Takei
I was doing a civil rights musical here in Los Angeles, and we sang at one of the rallies where Dr. Martin Luther King spoke, and I remember the thrill I felt when we were introduced to him. To have him shake your hand was an absolutely unforgettable experience.
Even before I could vote, I was involved in the political arena. My father was an admirer of Adlai Stevenson, and he took me to the Stevenson for President headquarters, and he volunteered me. That was my introduction to electoral politics, which was exciting and fun and thrilling and very theatrical.
Humor is a powerful tool, and some of these politicians are so far out and easy to lampoon. They just provide such delicious opportunity.
Up until the time I was cast in 'Star Trek,' the roles were pretty shallow - thin, stereotyped, one-dimensional roles. I knew this character was a breakthrough role, certainly for me as an individual actor but also for the image of an Asian character: no accent, a member of the elite leadership team.
When I was going to gay bars in my 20s and 30s, the older guys there explained to me that the police would occasionally raid these places and march the clients out, load them onto paddy wagons, drive them down to the station, photograph them, fingerprint them and put their names on a list. They were doing nothing wrong, and it was criminalized.
It's difficult working with someone who is not a team player.
We can't let the past be forgotten.
'Star Trek' is science fiction. 'Star Wars' is science fantasy. Based on the episodes I worked on, I think with 'Star Wars: Clone Wars,' we're starting to see a merging, though. It does deal, philosophically, with some of the issues of the time, which is always something 'Star Trek' was known for.
I grew up in the age of radio. That was my main boyhood form of entertainment: lying on the living room floor with my ears affixed to the radio. I loved shows like 'The Phantom,' 'Cisco Kid,' and even 'Happy Theater' when I was younger.
Radio dramas have disappeared. What we do have now is books on tape, which I find wonderful. I've done some of those. Otherwise, radio acting is now gone.
One of the gifts of 'Star Trek' is my professional work colleagues have become my lifelong friends.
I'm most comfortable with my computer. Yes, I have an iPhone, but I've reached that point now where to read e-mails on my phone, I need my reading glasses. I'm most comfortable with the big-screen computer.
I think my whole life has been shaped by my childhood incarceration in America's concentration camps.
Those Tea Party people are crazy. I mean, they're lunatics. They close down the government, throw people out of their jobs - hundreds of thousands of people - and they say that they're doing it ultimately in the interest of creating jobs.
They didn't incarcerate the Japanese-Americans in Hawaii. That's the place that was bombed. But the Japanese-American population was about 45 percent of the island of Hawaii. And if they extracted those Japanese-Americans, the economy would have collapsed. But on the mainland, we were thinly spread out up and down the West Coast.
I've known Lisa Lampanelli for quite some time. We did the Shatner roast together. Lisa didn't know Shatner, but she's a popular roaster, so she was invited to do it, and she is fantastic. Actually, despite her public image, she's a very sweet lady and very sensitive. She cries very easily. Most people don't know that.
If you have to make laws to hurt a group of people just to prove your morals and faith, then you have no true morals or faith to prove.Collection: Hurt
The only thing worse than human ignorance is human pride in that ignorance.Collection: Ignorance
Social media is like ancient Egypt: writing things on walls and worshiping cats.Collection: Wall
We should indeed keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity.Collection: Differences
It’s really hard to hate someone for being different when you’re too busy laughing together.Collection: Hate
The starship Enterprise was a metaphor starship Earth, and the vision was that the strength of this starship lay in its diversity.Collection: Diversity
I myself am a Buddhist, not a Christian. But I cannot help but think that if Christ ran a public establishment, it would be open to all, and He would be the last to refuse service to anyone. It is, simply put, the most un-Christian of notions.Collection: God
Life is too short not to order the bacon dessert.Collection: Life Is Too Short
We must remind ourselves that an assault on any one of our liberties and freedoms is an assault on all.Collection: Liberty
I'm a preservationist, I believe in preserving history intact, but I also enjoy the technological advances which have been made.Collection: Believe
You know, when a man is raped you never hear about what he was wearing.Collection: Men
Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.Collection: Roaring
Confidence in the human capacity for problem solving, for invention, for innovation.Collection: Innovation
I had a really unusual, remarkably unusual father because he, in our family, was the one that suffered the most. He was the one that explained American democracy to me. He said, ‘Our democracy is a people’s democracy and it can be as great as people can be, and it can be great… but we are also fallible human beings.’Collection: People
Good grief. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, and at one another, in good spirit and without malice, then what fun can be left? If we must withhold all ribbing in the name of protecting everyone’s feelings, then we truly are a toothless society. We will reach what I call “the lowest common denominator of butthurt.Collection: Fun
I think we learn more from those times in our history where we stumbled as a democracy than we learn from the glorious chapters.Collection: Thinking
People forget that stereotypes aren’t bad because they are always untrue. Stereotypes are bad because they are not always true. If we allow ourselves to judge another based on a stereotype, we have allowed a gross generalization to replace our own thinking.Collection: Thinking
Do your duty as an American, and as a citizen of the galaxy... Vote!Collection: Citizens
The real challenge in acting is in comedy. It's easier to get that gasp in a drama. Not easy, because you still have to find that emotional pitch. And when you do something in drama and you hear that sob from the audience it's so fulfilling. But as a comic actor, when the laugh is supposed to come and you punch in that line and nothing happens it is dreadful. It's horrific and you feel like dying right there.Collection: Real
We have to be vigilant about how the Trump administration may try to divide us from each other.Collection: Trying
We have the history of slavery or inequality to women, and now the civil rights movement of the 21st century is the struggle for equality for the gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. And I think it's important for Americans to know about the times that we failed.Collection: Struggle
As the old saying goes, I was simply looking for fan love, in Alderaan places.Collection: Fans
I am emboldened, not cowed, by the words and actions of Trump and his circle. I believe many others are as well. Together we will stand in opposition. I'm not going anywhere, and I won't be silenced.Collection: Believe
Facebook itself has an interest in having great content so that its users keep coming back.Collection: Coming Back
Nothing is what it seems on the surface of Heroes.Collection: Hero
There is more story in a minor character like Boba Fett than there is in all the clutter of various vampires in the Twilight franchise.Collection: Twilight
We need to take our passion and effect real change at the local, state, and federal levels, to help elect progressive leaders, and to stem the tide of division, fear and scapegoating.Collection: Real
Unfriending me when I didn’t even know we were friends? It’s like breaking wind when you’re home alone. If I can’t smell you, knock yourself out.Collection: Home
Today we have the economic collapse that the whole planet is suffering, but there is hope, and that's what's going to keep us moving ahead.Collection: Moving
If leadership requires a fired-up sense of purpose and imagination, it also demands a profound connection to the society to be led.Collection: Profound
Well, you know, I do think in the larger span of things, I owe it all to Star Trek, because Star Trek has given me this pop icon status if you will, and one of the gifts have been this megaphone I have which amplifies my voice and I can reach people. And I do think the movement for equality for LGBT Americans is in the same context of all of the great American movements, you know, the basic fundamental ideals of this country of justice and equality.Collection: Country
I was involved in the civil rights movement way back in the late '50s and through the '60s and '70s. I was doing a civil rights musical here in Los Angeles and we sang at one of the rallies where Dr. Martin Luther King spoke, and I remember the thrill I felt when we were introduced to him. To have him shake your hand was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Even before I could vote, I was involved in the political arena.Collection: Political