“I’ve been lucky enough to live through most of the things that we all think will give meaning to our lives, trying to be an artist, being a father, a husband, being devoted to love and even trying to do good with other people. I had celebrity which a lot of people think will solve all their problems, but it doesn’t, and even money. But what’s funny is, none of that, or at least not any one of them, gives me a personal sense of lasting satisfaction that I would define as meaning."

Alan Alda: Well, in the middle of the night, I heard this voice because I was in the midst of being so glad to be alive. I heard this voice from the back of my head that said, "So have you lived a life of meaning?"

When I'm faced with a kind of character I've never tried before, the fear can rise to the level of terror. But, it's a terror I look forward to, and I don't like to take on a part unless it scares me a little. I've found a tremendous value in this kind of fear... in the rest of my life, too.