Happy Birthday Jörg Kachelmann!

Nachts ist es mit der Sonne sowieso vorbei.

Ich möchte wenigstens einmal in meinem Leben einen Tornado live erleben. Nichts ist schlimmer als dauerhaft blauer Himmel. Das empfinde ich als persönliche Beleidigung.

Und dasselbe auch noch für November 2017 bis Januar 2018.

Ich war nicht in der Schweizer Armee, um mich von durchgeknallten deutschen Staatsanwälten fertigmachen zu lassen.

Jemand schon Sonne und Hitze für dieses Wochenende erwartet? Ich ahnte es schon gestern. 

Das ist das Opfer-Abo, das Frauen haben. Frauen sind immer Opfer, selbst wenn sie Täterinnen wurden. Menschen können aber auch genuin böse sein, auch wenn sie weiblich sind.

Nein, Gewittertierchen sind keine Gewitter-Vorhersager.

Ich war immer ein institutionen­gläubiger Spießer gewesen, war außer durch ein paar Kleinst­verkehrs­verstöße nie auffällig geworden bei der Polizei und glaubte im Übrigen an die Justiz in Deutschland - und in Baden-Württemberg, wo ich geboren bin, sowieso.

Nein. Das i spricht man nie. Was auch immer irgendwo an Stuss steht.

Ich habe etwas gegen das Jammern über das Wetter. Es wäre wirklich unpraktisch, wenn es nie regnen würde in Deutschland.

Da sieht man dann auf dem Satellitenbild das tiefe Suppengeschlabber über den Ort branden und wundert sich ein wenig.

Vor diesem Gericht nützt dir auch komplette Unschuld nichts. Ich bin zutiefst überzeugt: Alle Polizisten, alle Staatsanwälte, der Anwalt der Falschbeschuldigerin und das Gericht wussten damals und wissen heute, dass ich zu hundert Prozent unschuldig bin. Sie wussten schon früh, dass die Falschbeschuldigerin lügt. Trotzdem wurde dieses Höllentheater durchgezogen.

Der Mensch an sich am Strand Portugal dachte, das sei nun dieser Saharastaub - war aber nur kurz Seenebel für Troia.

Mir ist das Wetter wurscht. Hauptsache, die Vorhersage stimmt.

Aufregung um #Ditfurth letztendlich ein Chauviproblem trauriger alter Männer, die mit ihrer faktenunabhängigen franzjosefstraussigen Hinterfotzigkeit nicht umgehen können und das moderierende BleibenSiedochda-Bettelheimchen als gewünschten Standard sehen.

Je einen guten Anwalt zu nehmen, einen für Straf-, einen für Medienrecht. Ich habe lernen müssen, dass es gute und schlechte Anwälte gibt. Es wird immer wieder geschrieben, dass man viel Geld braucht, um sich gegen eine Falschbeschuldigung zu verteidigen - das ist nicht richtig, in meinem Leben waren die schlechtesten Anwälte die teuersten und die besten zeichneten sich immer dadurch aus, dass Sie um mich und um die Gerechtigkeit kämpften wie um ihr eigenes Leben und erst später, viel später sich um Geld Gedanken machten.

Wer in Loggia ein i hören lässt, wird in der Hölle nur langsam auftauenden Pizzateig bekommen.

Wetter ist das, was ein kurzer Blick aus dem Fenster zeigt. Klima ist das, was ein Mensch erlebt, der sich 30 Jahre lang ohne Unterbrechungen aufs Fensterbrett stützt.

Menschen verwechseln gerne "finden, dass man eine Meinung aushalten muss" mit "genau diese Meinung haben". Wann fing das an? Oder immer da?

Man kann einen Mann beschuldigen, ohne dafür bestraft zu werden. So genannte Opfervereinigungen wie der Weisse Ring übernehmen kritiklos alles, was gegen den Mann spricht. Sie sagen offen, dass sie gar nicht genau abklären wollen, ob eine Frau wirklich Opfer einer Vergewaltigung ist oder eine Vergewaltigung einfach nur erfunden hat, um einen Mann zu zerstören. Diesen Gruppierungen ist ein unschuldig verurteilter Mann lieber als der Rechtsstaat.

In der Schweiz heisst das Balkon. Und BITTE Deutsche! Man spricht das Lodscha! Nicht anders. Das geschriebene i im Wort HÖRT MAN NICHT. NIE!

Mich haben diverse PR-Berater und Personal Coaches angerufen oder mir gemailt. Sie hatten alle den gleichen Rat: Geh ein halbes Jahr ins Kloster, komm raus und sag: 'Jetzt bin ich geläutert.' Aber das war keine Sekunde lang eine Option. Ich wollte kämpfen, nicht um Gnade winseln.

Die Schwüle ist noch nicht überall weg - ab 16 Grad Taupunkt Jammern, ab 18 Grad Elend - zum Ablesen in die Länder.

Der Vergewaltigungsvorwurf ist dank einer pervertierten Justiz zum nützlichen Instrument geworden, mit dem Frauen ungestraft Männer loswerden können. Wenn sich herausstellt, dass die Anschuldigung haltlos ist, wird das Verfahren oft einfach nur eingestellt, und gegen die Frau wird nicht weiter ermittelt, obwohl Falschanschuldigung ein Offizialdelikt ist.

Die Heissluft über dem kühlen Atlantik macht Sachen.

Vergewaltigung ist ein schreckliches Verbrechen, und ich bin absolut dafür, es auch hart zu bestrafen. Im Laufe meines Lebens habe ich elf Frauen mehr oder weniger gut kennengelernt, die vergewaltigt worden sind. Von ihren eigenen Vätern, im Ponyhof, in einem Hotel und so weiter. Für jede dieser großen Frauen eine lebenslange Katastrophe. Ich bin mit Frau Schwarzer einig, dass 15 bis 20 Prozent der Frauen von sexueller Gewalt betroffen sind. Keine dieser Frauen, denen ich begegnet bin, hat angezeigt, leider. Alle wussten, dass sie die Verbrecher ohne Problem in den Knast bringen würden - aber alle haben eine andere Form der Verarbeitung gesucht, ohne anzuzeigen, leider. 

Der Sommer war bisher fast überall trockener und sonniger als normal. Leider wissen viele Menschen nicht mehr, wo Deutschland liegt.

Ich gehe gegen alle vor, gegen die Frau mit dem Hauptvorwurf, aber auch gegen die Trittbrettfahrerinnen. Wenn ich mich nicht wehre, wird das, was mir passiert ist, zum Muster für alle durchgeknallten Frauen dieser Welt, die Männern etwas anhängen wollen, aus welchen Gründen auch immer.

Nochmal schnell rundrum nerven: An einem Tag ohne Luftmassenwechsel bringen Gewitter nix Abkühlung, sondern=Aufguss in der Sauna

Es geht um das Prinzip der Falschbeschuldigung. So etwas ist ja nicht nur mir passiert, sondern vielen anderen Prominenten und vor allem vielen Nichtprominenten, von denen man nie liest. Falschbeschuldigungen sind leider zu einer beliebten Waffe geworden. Man könnte fast von einem Massenphänomen sprechen.

Danke an alle, die unsere kleine Schnuffelseite weiterempfehlen.

Alice Schwarzer hat aus der Klägerin eine Ikone der Lüge gemacht und sich selbst zur Schutzheiligen einer Kriminellen erklärt. Schade um eine Frau, die früher mal Verdienste hatte.

Jammerberechtigung ab Taupunkt 16, wehklagen ab 18 und weinend zusammenbrechen ab 20° (zum Ablesen in die Länder) 
     
Es geht mir um Recht und Gerechtigkeit, vor allem auch darum, andere Männer vor Nachahmungs­taten zu schützen, die es sicher schon gibt und von denen es mehr geben wird, wenn den Falschbeschuldigerinnen und Lügnerinnen vor Gericht nichts passiert.

Wie schon oft erwähnt: Gewitter ändern an der Schwüle gar nichts, wenn kein Luftmassenwechsel da. Ist vielmehr wie Aufguss in der Sauna.

Ich bin kein pathologischer Womanizer. Es ist mir übrigens oft gelungen, erfolgreich nein zu sagen, aber es ist mir nicht häufig genug gelungen. Nochmals: Ich bin nicht stolz darauf und finde mich nicht toll deswegen, aber alles, was ich getan habe, ist keine Rechtfertigung für eine erfundene Straftat.

ACHTUNG Rhein-Main-Gebiet, das verstärkt sich immer mehr, keine Experimente in Kellern, Tiefgaragen, Unterführungen

Es gibt heute die kollektive Bereitschaft in weiten Teilen des deutschen Journalismus, Blödsinn zu schreiben. Es gibt eine weit verbreitete Hybris, die es so vor 20 Jahren nicht gegeben hat. Und ich bin nicht sicher, ob es um schlechte Nachrichten geht. Es geht nicht mehr um die Wahrheit und das ist das, was mir Sorgen macht. Der deutsche Journalismus in seiner kollektiven Hybris ist es nicht gewohnt, für Fehler kritisiert oder womöglich nicht ernst genommen zu werden. 

Journalisten haben mich vorverurteilt und sogar nach meinem Freispruch noch nachverurteilt. Sie haben mein tatsächliches und mein vermeintliches Privat- und Intimleben an die Öffentlichkeit gezerrt. Sie haben Dinge geschrieben, die nachweislich frei erfunden waren. All das war rechtswidrig, und in der Summe hatte es einen katastrophalen Effekt. Mein Ruf ist nicht nur durch das Strafverfahren zerstört worden, sondern durch den unseriösen medialen Umgang damit. Natürlich musste ich mich gegen diesen Schmutz mit meinen Medienanwälten wehren. Mit einigen Verlagen habe ich mich gütlich geeinigt. Mit Springer war das nicht möglich. Die sind jetzt verurteilt worden, mir mehr als eine halbe Million Euro Schmerzensgeld und Zinsen für ihre rechtswidrige Berichterstattung zu zahlen.

Der Vergewaltigungsvorwurf ist dank einer pervertierten Justiz zum nützlichen Instrument geworden, mit dem Frauen ungestraft Männer loswerden können.

Meine liebsten Hobbys sind: Wetter und noch mal Wetter.

Es gibt einen Spruch unter deutschen Juristen: 'U-Haft schafft Rechtskraft'. Ich glaube tatsächlich, es ist das Ziel der U-Haft, die Menschen zu brechen. Sie zielt nicht auf physische, aber auf psychische Vernichtung.

Wetter ist das, was ein kurzer Blick aus dem Fenster zeigt.
Klima ist das, was ein Mensch erlebt, der sich 30 Jahre lang ohne Unterbrechungen aufs Fensterbrett stützt.

Happy Birthday Harrison Ford!

I don't mind doing interviews. I don't mind answering thoughtful questions. But I'm not thrilled about answering questions like, 'If you were being mugged, and you had a lightsaber in one pocket and a whip in the other, which would you use?'

Directing is too hard, it takes too much time, and it doesn't pay very well.

I have the ordinary experience of being anonymous when I'm in an airplane talking to air-traffic control, and they don't know who they're talking to. I have a lot of common experiences.

You know you're getting old when all the names in your black book have M. D. after them.

I rarely play a real person, because I don't think I'm a good imitator.

I get mad when people call me an action movie star. Indiana Jones is an adventure film, a comic book, a fantasy.

I had a very strong feeling about the Vietnam War, and I had a strong feeling about participating in it. The military draft was in place, I was summoned for a physical exam, and I was either going to be classified as fit for military service or make my objection to it. So I made my objection to it.

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.

I think of myself as an assistant storyteller.

I love the comic opportunities that come up in the context of a father-son relationship.

I actually like snakes! When I was young, I was a boy scout nature camp counselor, and one of our projects was collecting snakes and creating an environment for them, so I'm quite familiar with snakes and think they're fantastic creatures.

To me, success is choice and opportunity.

The original 'Star Wars' that I was a part of really was the beginning of my working life. Harrison Ford Life, Beginning, Working I don't like baseball movies. I like movies about moral courage and people who are indomitable and courageous and right.

I've always been somewhere down from the top, so I've never had to suffer being knocked off the top.

On the first 'Indiana Jones' movie, I tore an ACL in one of my knees - can't remember which knee. The scene in which I was fighting the big German mechanic on an airplane called a flying wing, I was run over by the landing gear and injured my knee, but I can't remember which one it was. Lots of bumps and injuries along the way.

I don't do a huge amount of physical activity. I play tennis, I work out sporadically, and I eat well and take care of myself.

It's part of the job of the actor to torture the director.

I've never wanted to be the boss. 

We have to understand in value what the services of nature are so that we can understand that degrading them is an irreplaceable resource that no amount of money or human ingenuity can replace.

Am I grumpy? I might be. But I think maybe sometimes it's misinterpreted.

I don't do nostalgia. It just doesn't occur to me. I'm living in the moment, and I don't have that gene. 

My character is meant to know nothing about rap, and not to like it very much, but I know about it, because my kids make me listen to it. There's some rap I do like very much. I like Eminem, Blackalicious.

If I were a serious person, I'd probably have a real job.

Nature doesn't need people - people need nature; nature would survive the extinction of the human being and go on just fine, but human culture, human beings, cannot survive without nature.

I enjoyed carpentry, and it was very good to me for 12 years.

My goal was just to work regularly. I didn't ever expect to be rich or famous. I wanted to be a working character actor.

I wanted to live the life, a different life. I didn't want to go to the same place every day and see the same people and do the same job. I wanted interesting challenges.

I could take Sean Connery in a fight... I could definitely take him. 

Some actors couldn't figure out how to withstand the constant rejection. They couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My older kids are fantastic people. It can't be the result of my influence on them.

You may get real tired watching me, but I'm not going to quit.

I fly myself everywhere. I like all kinds of flying, including practical flying for search and rescue. And I also like to fly into the backcountry, usually the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho. I go with a group of friends, and we set up camp for about five days and explore little dirt strips and canyons.

I think 'Indiana Jones' was a lot of fun to do because of the places we went to and the adventures and the action. But Han Solo was also a huge part of my life. 

Really, what are the options? Levi's or Wranglers. And you just pick one. It's one of those life choices.

I'd love to do another 'Indiana Jones.' A character that has a history and a potential, kind of a rollicking good movie ride for the audience, Steven Spielberg as a director - what's not to like?

I'm addicted to Altoids. I call them 'acting pills.'

There is no child left within me, none whatsoever.

The focus and the concentration and the attention to detail that flying takes is a kind of meditation. I find it restful and engaging, and other things slip away.

We're all interconnected. For example, a simple lack of fresh water can lead to population dislocation, which can lead to political radicalization, which can lead to great pressure on the states that receive refugees because of a migrating population.

What I observed about my fellow actors was that most gave up very easily.

It's very little trouble for me to accommodate my fans, unless I'm actually taking a pee at the time.

If you're asking me to acknowledge that I've gotten older, I can do that.

I went down to Venezuela and ended up renting a helicopter and flew with my sons to the tops of the tepuis, these freestanding jungle mesas, 'lost worlds' as it were. In fact, it's almost impossible to access them without one. So we were able to land and spend some time there. We were trapped for about six hours by clouds that came in.

The actor's popularity is evanescent; applauded today, forgotten tomorrow.

All my friends were going off to be professionals, and I said I wanted to be an actor.

I'm like old shoes. I've never been hip. I think the reason I'm still here is that I was never enough in fashion that I had to be replaced by something new.

Political The kindest word to describe my performance in school was Sloth.

I think retirement's for old people. I'm still in the business, thank you. I have a young child of nine years old, and I want to live as long as I can to see him grow up. I'm enjoying my life and I want to stick around for as long as I can.

Bikes and planes aren't about going fast or having fun; they're toys, but serious ones.

It doesn't interest me to be Harrison Ford. It interests me to be Mike Pomeroy and Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan. I don't want to be in the Harrison Ford business. I take what I do seriously, but I don't take myself seriously.

Happy Birthday Sir Patrick Stewart!

And from the first moment that I ever walked on stage in front of a darkened auditorium with a couple of hundred people sitting there, I was never afraid, I was never fearful, I didn't suffer from stage fright, because I felt so safe on that stage. I wasn't Patrick Stewart, I wasn't in the environment that frightened me, I was pretending to be someone else, and I liked the other people I pretended to be. So I felt nothing but security for being on stage. And I think that's what drew me to this strange job of playing make-believe.

I came to feel very, very sentimental about those sets, which is ludicrous, because they represent everything which is transitory and insubstantial. It's absurd that one should feel sentimental about timber and canvas.

The people who could do most to improve the situation of so many women and children are in fact, men.

William Shatner has one style. We have completely contrasting personalities. We're very good friends. I adore him, but we're very different people, so they were smart enough to write characters that reflected that. 

Violence against women is learned. Each of us must examine - and change - the way in which our own behavior might contribute to, enable, ignore or excuse all such forms of violence. I promise to do so, and to invite other me and allies to do the same.

I began directing episodes, which was a great light every couple of months. We never short-changed our audience, but it became something that you had to work at rather than something that was a pleasure.

Violence is never ever a choice that a man should make.

One of the things that I've come to understand is that as I talk a lot about Picard, what I find is that I'm talking about myself.

As a child, I heard in my home doctors and ambulance men say, 'Mrs. Stewart, you must've done something to provoke him.' 'Mrs. Stewart, it takes two to make an argument.' Wrong. Wrong! My mother did nothing to provoke that - and even if she had, violence is never ever a choice that a man should make. Ever.

I became a better listener than I ever had been as a result of playing Jean Luc Picard because it was one of the things that he does terrifically well.

I made a promise to myself that I would try to introduce something unexpected in every single episode of the series. It was largely to amuse myself as much as anything. I didn't ever want the audience to feel that they knew everything.

During the course of the seven years I played scenes with an oil slick, I played a scene with a grain of rice. Sometimes with indescribable creatures. I remember having a conversation with something which was simply a smell, that's all. It was part of our job.

I wouldn't know a space-time continuum or warp core breach if they got into bed with me.

The truth of the matter is, all of those guys on Star Trek: The Next Generation actually want to be me. These impersonations they do are just some way of trying to feel what it must be like to be me. And I understand that! Because it feels really good to be Patrick Stewart!

It's not just an exclamation, but it's a rejection of everything to do with Christmas, with the spirit of Christmas, with gift-giving, with generosity.

I wasn't campaigning for a role in a Hollywood television series, it was a fluke. So you've got to have a measure of good luck, you really have, being in the right place at the right time.

I like things that are funny - in everyday conversation, in incidents that you see, in watching TV or watching film. Comedy has always had an impact on my life.

It wasn't until the first season ended that I went to my first Star Trek convention. It was in Denver. There were two and a half thousand people there.

I was just excited by the whole prospect of working in a television series in Hollywood. I had never anticipated that as an actor I would ever end up here. It may be some sort of fantasy I'd thought about from time to time, but it was completely unrealistic.

Encouraging people to believe in it was the most important thing of all. It's one of the reasons I was always uncomfortable whenever film crews came on the set to shoot things. I didn't want our make-believe to be exposed.

At 12 years old in the dangerous world that I was in, with a very difficult home life, I found the stage was the safest place to be. It was predetermined and predictable - and furthermore you got to be someone else. All the problems only began when you left the building.

I think I came back from America a funnier and nicer person than I went.

An obsession might be a little strong a term, but it has now become one of the most significant aspects of my life, but most importantly of my career, because it has changed the public's perception of who Patrick Stewart is.

The studio have always claimed that the ship is the star of the show, especially when they're renegotiating contracts.

This is a call to action—not an action that will make things better in six months’ time or a year’s time, but action that might save someone’s life and someone’s future this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow morning.

Wouldn't it be grand if we thought that theater could have that impact on the political life of a country?

When I'm meant to be standing in the wings, the only way to go is the ladies' toilets. It's the only time I've ever acted in the toilets.

I don't do impersonations. I can do a wounded elephant! I can do a really good cow! And because of the amount of time I spent in North Yorkshire, I do a variety of sheep. All of which I will be happy to roll out for you!

Violence against women is the single greatest human rights violation of our generation.

The knights of the theater represented to me not only the pinnacle of the profession but the esteem in which the profession was held. To find myself, to my astonishment, in that company is the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me.

Where can I go that would give me the same level of satisfaction as an actor?

I certainly wanted to maintain some sense of mystery about Picard and that's why we never allowed certain situations to fully evolve, like the relationship between Picard and Beverly Crusher.

I saw Waiting for Godot when I was 17 in rep with a then unknown actor called Peter O'Toole playing Vladimir. I remember leaving the theatre promising myself that one day I would have a go at this play and then pretty much forgot it for 50 years.

We've heard from many teachers that they used episodes of Star Trek and concepts of Star Trek in their science classrooms in order to engage the students.

I've been in politics all my life. In 1945, I committed my first act of civil disobedience during the election campaign for the first post-World War II general election, when the Labour Party, to everyone's amazement, ousted the Conservatives. I refused to obey the instructions of a policeman, and as a result, almost got a belt around the ear, because those were the days when policemen could hit children and nobody cared, they thought it was probably good for them.

Whenever the lion fish in the fish tank in the captain's ready room died it was always a sad moment.

All I ever wanted to do was be on stage, if possible acting in Shakespeare. And to be as good as I could be.There was nowhere else I wanted to go. TV was of no interest. Films were just a fantasy. Yet I was convinced that when we found ourselves in that world of fantasy and sci-fi, it was our classical background and our training that equipped us for that larger-than life-world.

But as I grew up as a child, falling in love with the theater and Shakespeare, my heroes were Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud.

There's no such thing as "just a domestic".

During my time we had two chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, at different times of course, on the bridge, both of whom asked my permission to sit on the captain's chair.

Laurence Olivier said if you have ambition to be a serious classical actor, you must be as fit as an athlete. For me, the breakthrough was going to live in California. I exercised. I drank less. It was one of the things about California that had a positive impact on me.

I am told that there have been over the years a number of experiments taking place in places like Massachusetts Institute of Technology that have been entirely based on concepts raised by Star Trek.

I always have been optimistic about humanity's future. Always. Even at the most dismaying of times.

I've often reflected on this in the past weeks as I've been following the presidential campaign: Very often, I thought it would have been great for both of these guys to sit down and be force-fed a couple of dozen episodes of Star Trek. 

Comedy today is not what it was years ago. It's always changing, in particular to female comics. No longer are certain subjects considered to be a male preserve. Women can talk about sexuality and their bodily functions and it can be very, very entertaining. It's changed the impact of comedy acting.

There are several books that I have-the Physics of Star Trek, Star Trek and Business, there are manuals on command style and countless scholarly papers that have been written about the significance of Next Generation.

I do what I do in my mother's name because I couldn't help her then. Now I can.

One day, out of irritation, I said, you know all of those years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, all those years of playing kings and princes and speaking black verse, and bestriding the landscape of England was nothing but a preparation for sitting in the captain's chair of the Enterprise.

I've been a witness to unfairness in society all my life. To the conditions under which my mother worked all her life, working in an industrial weaving shed in the north of England. And it has been this feature of unfairness that has motivated me in all of my political thinking.

It still frightens me a little bit to think that so much of my life was totally devoted to Star Trek and almost nothing else.

I've been an activist all my life. And always a liberal activist, for the simple reason that it is on the liberal left that you find the true recognition for the need for fairness in society. I'm not saying equality, because that you can never achieve, because equality is based on such complex criteria. But fairness is another issue.

The only still center of my life is Macbeth. To go back to doing this bloody, crazed, insane mass-murderer is a huge relief after trying to get my cell phone replaced.

As time went on, I did campaign to lighten the character a little bit, to introduce some romance into the episodes, outside activities, horse riding and fencing and mountaineering.

Roddenberry had created quite a complex and at times mysterious character. Guarded, cautious, careful in showing his feelings in expressing his ideas about many things - I found that very interesting.

I know it feels like two steps forward and one step back, but we are making progress. In my lifetime, I have lived through one World War, I have lived through the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the pulling down of the Berlin Wall. I have experienced what I never thought I would have experienced, which is a pretty workable peace in Northern Ireland, and I experienced a unified Europe - until the Conservative government got its hands on the idea that in order to appease a few back-benchers they would hold a referendum, what a disastrous idea.

As the captain, I was going to be having the dominant role in most of the episodes, and that was appealing. I wasn't interested in coming to Hollywood to sit around.

If someone says ‘Give me one word of advice,’ I say ‘be fearless.’ And knowing without any shadow of a doubt that what they have to give—who they are—is totally unique and not shared by anybody else. And to believe in that uniqueness. It took me decades before I developed courage as an actor.

I never had teenage years. I guess because I was seen to be more adult than anybody around me.

The thing about Star Trek is that you're never dead, really. There's always a way of bringing somebody back to life. It would be fun. But I think we've all hung up our space suits for the last time.

I am not the archetypal leading man. This is mainly for one reason: as you may have noticed, I have no hair.

I’ve always believed that it is not possible to be in the world and not be political.

Having spent so much of my life with Shakespeare's world, passions and ideas in my head and in my mouth, he feels like a friend - someone who just went out of the room to get another bottle of wine.

I think that for the moment, at least, we are as good as it gets. And the good, the potential good in us is still to be explored...so that we can become better human beings to ourselves as well as to others. And I sometimes feel we’re only at the threshold of those discoveries.

I've met actors where you think, if only you could just clean up your act and get it together, people would want to work with you. Some people are so difficult, it's just not worth working with them.

t has really taken us (Stewart and Sunny Ozell) by surprise to what extent people have enjoyed it. I get a great deal of satisfaction from using it for societal issues and concerns that I am involved with, but there’s also been this element of playfulness, which has opened up a new avenue of communication, which I am enjoying very much indeed.

Tom Hanks knows the name of all the episodes.

I’d been given a voice that I didn’t know was available to me, and it was to speak seriously and with a proper level of involvement on issues of inequality and unfairness.

I had come to the point when I realized it was unlikely that my film career was going to move beyond a certain level of role. And I was - because I had graphic instances of it - handicapped by the success of Star Trek. A director would say, 'I don't want Jean-Luc Picard in my movie' - and this was compounded by X-Men as well.

Talent has always been the sexiest thing to me. I have missed out on innumerable, shall I call them, ‘romantic opportunities’ because the other person involved wasn’t very good at what they did.  

We had some very distinguished fans: I know one chancellor of a major university who used to schedule his meetings around Star Trek. We were thrilled to discover that Frank Sinatra was a big fan.

The people who could do most to improve the situation of so many women and children are in fact, men. It’s in our hands to stop violence against women. 

I wouldn't know a space-time continuum or warp core breach if they got into bed with me.

Is it enough, (Waiting for Godot) asks, to have written King Lear and Hamlet, Twelfth Night and the sonnets? The answer is unequivocally clear: how you live is as important as what you do. That’s how it has seemed to me all my life.

You get all of your neuroses worked out on stage. I haven't actually played very many nice characters, certainly not on stage. It's not a quality that attracts me.

No, I don’t miss playing him. I loved that character. I admired him—that was one of the nice things about being him.

Last Wednesday, I stupidly dropped my iPhone in the bath, and my life has sort of spiraled almost out of control.

Well, I was born in 1940. My father was serving in the army, but when the war was over we went away for a day to the seaside. My father popped into a store, and when he came out, he told me to close my eyes. He put something in my hand that felt so weird, I snatched my hand away. I looked down, and on the sidewalk was this yellowy-pinky furry-looking fruit. It was a peach! It was the most exotic taste I’d ever experienced.

I was brought up in a very poor and very violent household. I spent much of my childhood being afraid.

I think it was when I began to find out that this actor that I had admired from afar for so long had so many things in common with me—background, interests, passion about Shakespeare, passion about being on stage in front of live audiences.

Having played many roles of scientific intellect I do have an empathy for that world. It's been hard on me because flying the Enterprise for seven years in Star Trek and sitting in Cerebro in X-men has led people to believe that I know what I'm talking about. But I'm still trying to work out how to operate the air conditioning unit on my car.

A couple of years ago, I was asked, ‘How would you like to be remembered?' And my answer was ‘That I was very funny.’

Creating a believable world on the ship was very important, and technically they got better and better and better at showing the ship too.

Being cast as Jean-Luc Picard was the most significant thing that ever happened to me because there wasn’t an area of my life that it didn’t touch, mostly for the better.

It is what you do from now on that will either move our civilization forward a few tiny steps, or else... begin to march us steadily backward.

Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.

As time went on, I did campaign to lighten the character a little bit, to introduce some romance into the episodes, outside activities, horse riding and fencing and mountaineering.

What identifies an individual as a king is how other people behave towards him. All authority is assumed, and if other people don't accept your authority then you don't have it. Perhaps the critical thing to being a convincing figure of authority is actually not to try too hard.

I would like to see us get this place right first before we have the arrogance to put significantly flawed civilizations out onto other planets, even though they may be utterly uninhabited.

So far as education is concerned, it has had a significant impact on a lot of young people who turn to science as a much more exciting and interesting study than they otherwise might have found, entirely as a result of becoming involved with Star Trek.

For seven years I did very little theatre, and I have to make up some time.

I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, 'She must have provoked him,' or, 'Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.' They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.

Happy Birthday Greg Grunberg!

I love Twitter. Twitter for me is twofold. I can use it to get out important information about charity stuff and where I'm going to be, and I can get feedback from the audience which I love.

I met my wife, I had no money, I had nothing, and I started my family without really, my career was nowhere, but I had these other businesses, I had these things I was doing to be able to afford a small home.

I never root for a failure. I learned that when we were on 'Felicity.' There was a show that failed on the lot, and suddenly all of this food showed up on our set. I was, like, 'What is this?' And they said, 'Oh, they cancelled this other show right before their lunch.' And I said, 'Throw that food away! We don't want to touch that food! There's no way I'm eating it!' So I never root for anybody, because it could happen to you in two seconds.

I was, throughout school, in the theater program. Through elementary school, junior high, high school, and then J.J. Abrams, my closest friend in the world, we were living together. He was writing, and I was trying writing; I wasn't getting paid for it like he was, but I always had the acting bug. 

It doesn't matter what religion you are. If you come to Israel you'll find history that will blow you away...Everywhere we go we end each day saying, 'That was the most incredible day we've ever had.' It's been quite a trip.

With Yowza there are no games, you don't have to check in or become the mayor or go back home and redeem anything online - you will always press one button, show the coupon at the register and save money. It's as simple as that.

My limitations are - I'm not Meryl Streep. I'm not playing anything in a foreign language, or anything too far from who I am.

I have always been business minded, always been sorta an entrepreneurial guy; I played a character on 'Felicity' that was modeled after me, actually.

I opened up a frozen-yogurt business out of college. I didn't finish college; I went halfway, and then I worked for Joel Silver, the producer, as a driver for a year.

I love the iPhone - I'm a huge Mac and Apple fan.

Happy Birthday Tom Hanks!

I went to college because I didn't have anywhere else to go and it was a fabulous hang. And while I was there I was exposed to this world that I didn't know was possible. 

I love what I do for a living, it's the greatest job in the world, but you have to survive an awful lot of attention that you don't truly deserve and you have to live up to your professional responsibilities and I'm always trying to balance that with what is really important.

Human beings do things for a reason, even if sometimes it's the wrong reason.

There's a small percentage of people who can act. There's a small percentage who get to do this for a living. There's a swath of the population that are able to keep a story in their head and fight all the battles against self-consciousness and the surreal unnaturalness of acting in a movie. The technical aspects you can learn fairly quickly.

And then it was like, wait, you can go to college and study theater? And act in plays? This is almost a racket, you know. And then when the opportunity came along to do it professionally, I thought I'd won the lottery.

My favorite traditional Christmas movie that I like to watch is All Quiet on the Western Front. It's just not December without that movie in my house.

If you look at romantic comedies as pieces of commerce, the audience is looking for wish fulfillment.

I've talked to a number of actors who have gained weight for roles, and just the sheer physical toll it puts on one's knees and shoulders - no one wants to do it again. I'm 57 and I don't think I'm going to take on any job or go on vacation again and see to it that I can gain 30 pounds.

If you're funny, if there's something that makes you laugh, then every day's going to be okay. 

I never worked with men. I was always working with some babe, and it was always about falling in love, and it just got turned around. I'm not looking for any particular kind of story. I wait until it comes across my desk.

My wife keeps on telling me my worst fault is that I keep things to myself and appear relaxed. But I am really in a room in my own head and not hearing a thing anyone is saying. 

There isn't any great mystery about me. What I do is glamorous and has an awful lot of white-hot attention placed on it. But the actual work requires the same discipline and passion as any job you love doing, be it as a very good pipe fitter or a highly creative artist.

Yeah! I got type-two diabetes! I'm sure there's going to be some media scandal now, saying I got it because I gained and lost weight for movie parts or something - but I doubt that.

The year I was born, 1956, was the peak year for babies being born, and there are more people essentially our age than anybody else. We could crush these new generations if we decided too.

It just so happens that my body type and my lifestyle gives me a preclusion for high blood sugars.

Some people are cowards... I think by and large a third of people are villains, a third are cowards, and a third are heroes. Now, a villain and a coward can choose to be a hero, but they've got to make that choice.

When I was growing up, everybody in charge, my parents and teachers, had all survived the war, and they talked about the war like it was the Kraken - you know, this huge beast that roamed the earth during their formative years.

There is something basic about protecting land by taking it off the market. People should be able to enjoy where they live while at the same time protect the plants and animals around them.

One thing that was amazing about World War II was that everybody signed up for the duration plus six months. Fliers got to leave combat after 25 missions, or 35 missions, but other than that, you were in it. You were part of the great effort, until, oh boy, six months after it was over.

If there are nine guys auditioning and they're all gorgeous, I have an advantage, because gorgeous guys are a dime a dozen. But if they need someone else - like a goofy guy with bad hair who is just okay - then that's me. And finally, the other 2 percent who audition are geniuses that I could never touch.

I had to say no to 'Fantasy Island' back when I was doing 'Bosom Buddies.'

What we're doing with Band of Brothers is trying to put it into human terms, so it is not just a flickering, black and white myth on a screen, it is a resonant story. I want the audience to recognize themselves in these men. They're not just mythic heroes.

I did a 'Love Boat!' And based on my trip on the 'Love Boat,' I said, 'I'd just as soon not do 'Fantasy Island.'

There's this misconception that the Navy is this cruise ship, and you get to go out and sail around, and every now and then, you have to swab the deck. But, no, it is a very impressive group of young people that live at sea, in this place that's very uncomfortable. They exude a pride that is well-deserved.

Now, learning how to make a movie is something you can figure out in about an afternoon. The physics of it, the marks, the lights, etc. What's hard to do is to suspend your own feelings of self consciousness. The natural actors can do that; they can become part of a characterization and learn how to maintain it.

Movie-making is telling a story with the best technology at your disposal.

Larger-than-life characters make up about .01 percent of the world's population.

By and large, the making of motion pictures is all about, 'Let's ratchet it up.' And I always think, 'We don't need to ratchet this up.' If you do, don't call it 'Captain Phillips' or 'The Maersk Alabama.' Call it something else, and then you have carte blanche to do anything, down to sea serpents and aliens.

My doctor said, 'If you can weigh what you weighed in high school, you'll essentially be healthy and not have Type 2 diabetes.' Well, I'm gonna have Type 2 diabetes, because there is no way I can weigh as much as I did in high school.

My TV show had been cancelled; nothing else had gone anywhere; some alliances I had made petered out and nothing came of them and I was looking at a long, long year ahead of me in which there was no work on the horizon, the phone wasn't ringing. I had two kids, one of them a brand-new baby, and I didn't know if I would be able to keep my house.

When I work, a lot of times I have to lose weight, and I do that, but in my regular life I was not eating right, and I was not getting enough exercise. But by the nature of my diet and that lifestyle - boom! The end result was high blood sugars that reach the levels where it becomes Type 2 diabetes. I share that with a gajillion other people.

A hero is somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown. 

I think it's better to feel good than to look good. 

I have high blood sugars, and Type 2 diabetes is not going to kill me. But I just have to eat right, and exercise, and lose weight, and watch what I eat, and I will be fine for the rest of my life.

I am who I am, and I think I have a good nature, by and large. But if someone takes advantage of that good nature, well then, you know, I'm not that nice a guy.

There's a difference between solitude and loneliness. I can understand the concept of being a monk for a while.

I think 80 percent of the population are really great, caring people who will help you and tell you the truth. That's just the way it is. And I think 20 percent of the population are crooks and liars. It's just a fact.

When I was 21 years old, I had a job playing Santa Claus in a shopping centre in Sacramento. I was rail thin, so it's not like I was a traditional Santa Claus even then. I had a square stomach; that was the shape of the sofa cushion that I had stuffed into my pants.

I want to have a good time myself. I don't want to dread going to work no matter what the gig is. I think, selfishly, I will make sure that I have a good time; how about that?

I understand the concept of optimism. But I think with me what you get is a lack of cynicism.

For some people, I will be Forrest Gump for the rest of my life. But that's OK; that's a good thing.

Growing up in northern California has had a big influence on my love and respect for the outdoors. When I lived in Oakland, we would think nothing of driving to Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz one day and then driving to the foothills of the Sierras the next day.

I must say that I do wrestle with the amount of money I make, but at the end of the day what am I gonna say? I took less money so Rupert Murdoch could have more?

At the end of the day it's got to be a good movie, it's got to be a funny movie, and it's got to make people think, 'Hey, I couldn't have spent my time any better.'

If you have to have a job in this world, a high-priced movie star is a pretty good gig.

The same way that I know that I'll never do a movie as good or as celebrated as 'Forrest Gump,' I know that I'll never do a movie as bad as 'Bonfire of the Vanities.'

I will entertain anything; it doesn't matter. You know, it's not obviously about the price, it's not about who, it's kind of about when and what. It's material, that's all.

Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candour.

I would not want to live in a country that would have me as a leader in any sort of political bent.

I think I'm lucky that I had kids as spread out as much as I did, 'cause my son, my oldest, was born when I was 21. And my youngest is 15 now. He was born when I was 40, you know?

My kid could get a bad X-ray and I could get a call from the doctor saying I have something growing in my bum and that would change my perspective on everything instantaneously, on what is and what is not important.

The most accurate representation of how I feel is that I'm incredibly lucky to be working in this structure where people get paid millions to read the news on TV. And, yes, it is insane. And there is nothing I can say beyond acknowledging my immense good fortune, and being aware that I'm blessed, and aware that it isn't going to last forever.

That's what's nice about directing a film and having it done: There's nothing more I can do about it. It's done. That's it. All I can do is let it go and hope that people are kind to it.

There was a period of time in Los Angeles when I wondered if I was just going to lose everything.

It's always a combination of physics and poetry that I find inspiring. It's hard to wrap your head around things like the Hubble scope.

Everybody has something that chews them up and, for me, that thing was always loneliness. The cinema has the power to make you not feel lonely, even when you are.

But look, I was born in 1956, the peak year for births in US history. I think I'm very representative of many of the thought processes my generation have been through and, by and large, people of my age have had their imprint planted on the consciousness of western society for a long time.

The nature of the movies is different than it was five years ago, and they're all driven by the possibilities of CGI, which means you can make anything happen on screen that you can possibly desire.

'Larry Crowne' is about as bummed out a human being as one can be when he loses his job. What he is able to enjoy is something that may not be available to everybody. But it's about the value of being willing to get and willing to give good advice.

But the battles against loneliness that I fought when I was 16 are very different from those I fought when I was 27, and those are very different from the ones I fight at 44.

It's just as hard... staying happily married as it is doing movies.

I'm not interested in doing something edgy with a capital E just so everyone knows, 'Oh, OK, now he's showing us he can do edgy.'

I've made over 20 movies, and 5 of them are good.

You cannot look up at the night sky on the Planet Earth and not wonder what it's like to be up there amongst the stars. And I always look up at the moon and see it as the single most romantic place within the cosmos. 

Reading a script is usually as exciting as reading a boilerplate legal document, so when you read one that makes you feel as if you're seeing the movie, you know it's something different.

And I'm not apolitical - I'm very specific in my politics. But a lot of the time it's nobody's business unless you're over at my house having dinner.

I do not want to admit to the world that I can be a bad person. It is just that I don't want anyone to have false expectations. Moviemaking is a harsh, volatile business, and unless you can be ruthless, too, there's a good chance that you are going to disappear off the scene pretty quickly.

Tweeting is like sending out cool telegrams to your friends once a week.

Some people go to bed at night thinking, 'That was a good day.' I am one of those who worries and asks, 'How did I screw up today?'

But I also think all of the great stories in literature deal with loneliness. Sometimes it's by way of heartbreak, sometimes it's by way of injustice, sometimes it's by way of fate. There's an infinite number of ways to examine it.

If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. It's the hard that makes it great.

The nature of motion capture is only going to work for certain films. It's not going to put any other type of movies out of business.

No journalist has ever been in my house and no photographs have ever been taken of where I live. I don't parade my family out for display, which is the way it will stay.

As an actor I am always waiting for my luck to run out.

May you live as long as you want and not want as long as you live.

Repertory theater is all about being part of the whole, one of the many colors in this vast palette.

The truth is that everyone pays attention to who's number one at the box office. And none of it matters, because the only thing that really exists is the connection the audience has with a movie.

But television, when I was doing it, was all about scoring. You had to make these jokes bang, do whatever you could to make the material really pop. And if it didn't, there was something wrong with the material, or with you.

If I was to direct Ron Howard, I guarantee you, I would put him through a living hell every day. I would demand so much of him. We wouldn't quit until he leaves the set crying. Weeping! Spent!

I have gone through so many examinations of what a hero is, between the World War II stuff and the astronaut stuff.

As a young man, even if I was going to see a play or a film by myself, I didn't feel like I was alone. There was something that was unfolding up there that brought me into it. And I recognised that. For those two hours, it made me feel like I belonged to something really good.

I always wanted to play Lestrade of Scotland Yard 'cause he's a buffoon that gets to wear a uniform. I thought that would be fun.

As long as you as an individual... can convince yourself that in order to move forward as best you can you have to be optimistic, you can be described as 'one of the faithful,' one of those people who can say, 'Well, look, something's going to happen! Let's just keep trying. Let's not give up.

'Forrest Gump' was great, it was fabulous. It lasted much longer than anybody thought, and brought me a degree of attention that no human being on the face of the planet deserves.

Acting still rings my bell as much as it did in high school. Plus, I can now indulge my interests as a producer as well. My work is more fun than fun but, best of all, it's still very scary. You are always walking some kind of high wire.

Actors with political views are a dime a dozen.

If they could offer up a way to go to the moon that wouldn't kill you, I'd sign up.

I don't cause riots, but I do cause confusion. People freeze when they spot me. 

My job has always been to hold a mirror up to nature.

Even if a story has nothing to do with my life, if I can recognise something of myself in the character and think, 'Oh yeah, that's what I'd do...' Yeah, that's what I look for.

E-mail is far more convenient than the telephone, as far as I'm concerned. I would throw my phone away if I could get away with it.

Happy Birthday Käthe Kollwitz!

Ein paar Linien, ein paar Striche, ein wenig Farbe mitunter - und es sind Meisterwerke.

I want to cultivate the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown.

Ich will eine Zeichnung machen, die einen Menschen zeigt, der das Leid der Welt sieht. Kann das nicht nur Jesus sein?- Auch auf der Zeichnung, wo der Tod die Kinder packt, sitzt hinten eine Frau, die das Leid der Welt sieht. Es sind nicht ihre Kinder, die der Tod packt, sie ist viel älter. Sie sieht auch nicht zu, sie rührt kein Glied, aber sie weiß um das Leid der Welt.

I do not want to die... until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown. 

Zille war künstlerisch groß genug, um ungestraft eine besondere Absicht, also Tendenz, seinen Zeichnungen einfließen zu lassen.

Genius can probably run on ahead and seek out new ways. But the good artists who follow after genius - and I count myself among these - have to restore the lost connection once more.

Ich will wirken in dieser Zeit, in der die Menschen so ratlos und hilfsbedürftig sind.

It is my duty to voice the suffering of men, the never-ending sufferings heaped mountain-high.

Was hat dies Jahr gebracht? Was hat es genommen? Es war schwer und ernst wie die beiden anderen Kriegsjahre. Es hat nicht den Frieden gebracht. Es hat immer genommen und genommen.

Look at life with the eyes of a child.

Von meiner ersten Verliebtheit an bin ich immer verliebt gewesen, es war ein chronischer Zustand, mal war es nur ein leiser Unterton, mal ergriff es mich stärker. In den Objekten war ich nicht wählerisch. Mitunter waren es Frauen, die ich liebte. Gemerkt haben es die, in welche ich verliebt war, selten. Rückblickend auf mein Leben muss ich zu diesem Thema noch dazufügen, dass, wenn auch die Hinneigung zum männlichen Geschlecht die vorherrschende war, ich doch wiederholt auch eine Hinneigung zu meinem eigenen Geschlecht empfunden habe, die ich mir meist erst später richtig zu deuten verstand. Ich glaube auch, dass Bisexualität für künstlerisches Tun fast notwendige Grundlage ist, dass jedenfalls der Einschlag M. in mir meiner Arbeit förderlich war.

No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.

Jede Gabe ist eine Aufgabe.

While I drew, and wept along with the terrified children I was drawing, I really felt the burden I am bearing. I felt that I have no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate.

Eine reine Atelierkunst ist unfruchtbar und hinfällig, denn was nicht lebendige Wurzeln fasst, warum soll das sein.

To this day I do not know whether the power which has inspired my works is something related to religion, or is indeed religion itself.

Nun ist die Ausstellung eröffnet. Von drei bis fünf war Vorbesichtigung. Zehn Minuten vor drei klebte ich noch in wahnsinniger Eile Zettel auf die Bilder. Dann floh ich. Schon sind einige Stimmen gekommen von denen, die dort waren. Die Ausstellung muß etwas bedeuten, denn alle diese Blätter sind Extrakt meines Lebens. Nie habe ich eine Arbeit kalt gemacht, sondern immer gewissermaßen mit meinem Blut. Das müssen die, die sie sehen, spüren.

I am in the world to change the world.

Ich bin einverstanden damit, das meine Kunst Zwecke hat.

In solchen Augenblicken, wenn ich mich mitarbeiten weiß in einer internationalen Gemeinschaft gegen den Krieg, hab ich ein warmes, durchströmendes und befriedigendes Gefühl. Freilich, reine Kunst in dem Sinne wie zum Beispiel die Schmidt-Rottluffsche ist meine nicht. Aber Kunst doch. Jeder arbeitet, wie er kann. Ich bin einverstanden damit, daß meine Kunst Zweck hat. Ich will wirken in dieser Zeit, in der die Menschen so ratlos und hilfsbedürftig sind. Viele fühlen jetzt die Verpflichtung, wirken und helfen zu wollen, aber mein weg ist klar und eindeutig: andere gehen unklare Wege.

Jetzt weiter! Jetzt Arbeiten wie das Anti-Kriegsplakat für den Internationalen Gewerkschaftsbund, jetzt wenn möglich lauter solche Arbeiten, die eine Wirkung in sich schließen.

Das eigentliche Motiv aber, warum ich von jetzt an zur Darstellung fast nur das Arbeiterleben wählte, war, weil die aus dieser Sphäre gewählten Motive mir einfach und bedingungslos das gaben, was ich als schön empfand. Schön war für mich die Großzügigkeit der Bewegungen im Volke. Erst viel später erfasste mich mit ganzer Stärke das Schicksal des Proletariats. Ungelöste Probleme wie Prostitution, Arbeitslosigkeit, quälten und beunruhigten mich und wirkten mit als Ursache dieser meiner Gebundenheit an die Darstellung des niederen Volkes, und ihre immer wiederholte Darstellung öffnete mir ein Ventil oder eine Möglichkeit, das Leben zu ertragen.