Henry Winkler
I didn't read a book until I was 31 years old when I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Books terrified me. They made me nervous. Now I know you can travel to the bottom of the ocean or to outer space or anywhere in between without leaving your armchair, and I'm so, so sorry I couldn't read when I was younger.Collection: Travel
Assumptions are the termites of relationships.Collection: Relationship
Your mind knows only some things. Your inner voice, your instinct, knows everything. If you listen to what you know instinctively, it will always lead you down the right path.
I live by two words: tenacity and gratitude.
My Aunt Erna was smuggled out of Nazi Germany in 1939, alive, in a coffin with a spider plant at her feet. When I moved to Los Angeles from New York City in 1974 for 'Happy Days,' I took a cutting with me.
To me acting is like a jigsaw puzzle. The jigsaw puzzle is of the sky and all the pieces are blue. Out of this you have to create a human being and put it together.
How we learn has nothing to do with how brilliant we are.
Producing came about because I never wanted to be in one of those books, Where Are They Now?
If the country is going to be great, everybody has a gift, and I tell every child I meet, whether they have asked me or not, 'You have greatness inside you, and your job is to figure out what that is, dig it out, and give it to the world. Because the world needs everything, every one of you.'
You see, I don't know how to ride a motorcycle, actually.
Not every child learns the same way. I could not learn through my eyes. Reading was impossible. Math, to compute it in my mind, was impossible. I learned everything through listening.
Being down in Orlando, Florida, where we filmed the movie, I learned how to bass fish. Jerry Reed, who plays the villain in the movie, taught me how to bass fish.
That problem has been going on since men and women and their children moved from the plains and into caves. How many times have you heard Howard Cunningham talking to Marian about shopping? Too many.
Adam Sandler is truly brilliant. He plays these goofy characters, but he is a brilliant fellow.
A human being's first responsibility is to shake hands with himself.
In school, I was an underachiever.
It is the parent's job to see how their child learns and to make sure that the children's self confidence is buoyed at all times, or they will plummet like a stone.
It's truly unbelievable, the tenacity of life.
I had a dream, and I'm living it.
The arts help complete a person. I truly believe that.
When I was growing up, I was told I was stupid and that I would never achieve. I suffered from dyslexia, and in those days it wasn't recognised.
I was allergic to school. I was completely befuddled by school. I was trying so hard, but I couldn't succeed. I took geometry for four years, the same course over and over again, and I did not graduate with my senior class. I finally passed geometry after doing summer school, and eventually, I graduated.
I do most of my work with kids. They are the very foundation of our future. We are so incredibly disrespectful to them in America in every way because they can't vote.
It feels blessed to me. Because I go to comic cons, and people come up and they say, 'You're the reason I ride a motorcycle. You're the reason I became a mechanic.' And there are people who love 'Scream' and 'The Waterboy,' 'Royal Pains,' 'Parks & Rec,' 'Arrested Development.' And now 'Barry.' And then there are kids who only know me as an author.
I always catch and release and don't even eat trout. I think they are so majestic. I won't eat a trout even in a restaurant. They are beautiful and so much fun, and they give me such joy to catch them that it is my pleasure to take a picture with them, give them a kiss, sign a laminated autographed picture and put it in their mouth.
I rode it once, which was up the driveway in the opening credits of the show. I didn't know how to stop it. I actually nearly killed the director of photography, and I smashed into the sound truck.
If you make compelling television, they will come.
Producing is the hardest of the three because there is almost no closure. Every time you solve a problem, another one pops up. Directing is second, and acting is the most fun.
Right now I belong to the wonderful organization called The Children's Action Network. The first thing we did was immunize 200,000 children across the country against childhood diseases.
Wes Craven is a wonderful friend, and we had a really good time together.
When Richie Cunningham drank too many beers, his parents sat him down and explained their concerns. If you live on this earth, you find out that we are all the same.
When you love what you do, then you're talking to one of the luckiest guys on the face of the earth.
When I'm on a set, and I'm in between a scene or on a plane waiting, I read Twitter and I love it.
You cannot represent cool. You've got to be cool. You've got to be authentic. I think, after all these years, that is how I define cool. It is being authentic. That is powerful.
It was surreal to think the Queen of England not only knew who I was but thought enough of what I do to give me an award.
I won't go deep sea fishing. The first time I experienced it, I went salmon fishing. My problem is, before I even get to the fish, I have vomited. You have to go out five miles, and you are just throwing a line in and bringing them to the surface. And then you have to go back five miles, and all of a sudden the wind comes up, and it gets choppy.
I have been known to catch sixty trout in one day.
I was dyslexic and didn't know it until I was 31. Couldn't do math, spell, or tell left from right - left was the elbow that stuck out the window while I drove.
It was a very difficult time, 1984. 'Happy Days' ended. I said, 'There's no way I can be a producer.' My attorney said, 'You'll learn.' The first thing we sold was the 'MacGyver' television series. We shot 139 episodes between 1985 and 1992.
I loved doing commercials when I did commercials. I made a living. I worked in front of a camera. I could do plays for free.
I am a practical human being. I use everything I know on every job I do.
My soul lives in Montana. It's where I fly-fish for trout.
All children know when something is wrong and they can't understand something - they never need someone to tell them they're stupid. They need help in solving the problem.
I taught four classes in my life. They were a master class at Northwestern and three classes at Emerson when I was making 'Here Comes the Boom' in Boston.
I have had teachers who were brutal. If you look up 'brutal' in a dictionary, you will see their names. And I think that it's under the guise of wanting to change the actor's habit - wanting to break bad habits and replace them with brand-new ones you can use for the rest of your career.
When I was a freshman at Yale, one teacher brought me up after class and said, 'You're trying to undermine my class.' And I thought to myself, 'Oh my God, I'm going to be kicked out of school on the first week.' Not only do I not have a sense of self, I don't even know what she's talking about. I don't even know how to undermine anything.
If you clear your mind, you can fill it with your character. If it is cluttered, if it is anxious, if you're thinking about your date, about your dinner, about filling your refrigerator, there's no room. There's no room for the character you're trying to build.
You know that genie where you get three wishes? One that has never changed for me is I would like to sing, and move an audience through song.
The arts really matter in education. Sometimes the arts are the only way a student is unlocked. Sometimes it's the only way a student can communicate.
Comedy isn't just timing; it's about rooting out the funny in the real. You just bend reality to the left a little.