Top 77 George Takei Quotes

We are living in a science fiction world.

I’m an anglophile. I visit England regularly, sometimes three or four times a year, at least once a year.

We need to get some rationality on the Second Amendment. This is crazy what we allow ourselves.

It’s safe to assume none of us actually wants to see ISIS-inspired terrorists armed with semi-automatic rifles, able to attack at will within our own borders.

This political climate today reminds me of what my father must have gone through in 1942, when the winds of war and fires of hate were surrounding him. We have a candidate for the presidency of the United States, Donald Trump, using the same rhetoric that my father must have heard from elected officials.

You know, I grew up in two American internment camps, and at that time I was very young.

And it seems to me important for a country, for a nation to certainly know about its glorious achievements but also to know where its ideals failed, in order to keep that from happening again.

The arc of our history is toward more equality being expanded to more and more people.

In Indiana, gays and lesbians can be fired from their jobs with impunity, and in Arkansas, it’s the same thing. We need those protective laws to truly have an equal society.

I’d like to think that, when I explain it, that Mr. Trump will understand marriage is defined by two people who love each other, commit to each other, and will care for each other through thick and thin.

It kills me to hear Donald Trump talking.

‘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.

Well, the whole history of Star Trek is the market demand.

I think my whole life has been shaped by my childhood incarceration in America’s concentration camps.

Would-be terrorists cannot so much as board a plane without a thorough screening, yet we give them nearly unfettered access to very dangerous weapons.

I’ve run the marathon several times, so I definitely don’t look like the Great Ancestor!

I’m particularly impressed by the creation of the character of Spock, which really was Leonard Nimoy’s singular creation. He used everything he had.

The wonderful thing about acting is they’re always going to need old codgers!

I marched back then – I was in a civil-rights musical, Fly Blackbird, and we met Martin Luther King.

I intend to live life, not just exist.

Yes, I remember the barbed wire and the guard towers and the machine guns, but they became part of my normal landscape. What would be abnormal in normal times became my normality in camp.

I was four years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941 by Japan, and overnight, the world was plunged into a world war. America suddenly was swept up by hysteria.

There’s no point living at my age with many ingrained great fears.

Gene Roddenberry continually reminded us that the Star Trek Enterprise was a metaphor for starship Earth. And the strength in this starship came from its diversity, coming together and working in concert as a team. That is the strength of our countries, Canada and the United States. We are nations of diversity.

Arguments that we will never stop all shootings by restricting access to such weapons fails to account for our strong and common desire at least to stop many of them – or any of them.

I love being an actor.

I do think that Japan will be one of the nations that have equality, and that, too, will serve as an example for other Asian nations.

My memories of camp – I was four years old to eight years old – they’re fond memories.

I’m a civic busybody and I’ve been blessed with an active career.

It has long been a dream of mine that this important story one day would be told on the great American stage of Broadway. In fact, I’ve dedicated much of the latter half of my life to ensuring the story of the internment is known.

My father told me about American democracy. And he said you have to be actively engaged in the political process to make our democracy work. So I’ve been doing that my entire life. Civil rights movement. The peace movement during the Vietnam conflict. The movement to get an apology and redress for Japanese-Americans.

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.

At the core of ‘Star Trek’ is Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future. So much of science-fiction is about a dystopian society with human civilization having crumbled. He had an affirmative, shining, positive view of the future.

When I came out, I was 68, and I was totally prepared for my career to recede when I spoke to the press for the first time. What happened after that blew me away. I started getting more offers. My career blossomed.

I do find things funny. When you see life through the eyes of someone with a good sense of humor, which my grandmother did, life is a human comedy.

As you know, when Star Trek was canceled after the second season, it was the activism of the fans that revived it for a third season.

ISIS itself regularly fuels hatred of gay people and violence towards them. It broadcasts gruesome executions of homosexuals thrown blindfolded from rooftops.

We can’t let the past be forgotten.

People want to start their day off with a smile or, better yet, a guffaw.

As my audience grew more diverse, I started interjecting social justice advocacy and commentaries about LGBT equality, and it just kept growing more.

Every time we had a hot war going on in Asia, it was difficult for Asian Americans here.

Social media affords me an opportunity to interact with fans on a daily basis, not just for a few seconds apiece at a science-fiction convention.

I’ve been an activist since my late teens. I take this very seriously and try to use the gift that’s been given to me – access to the media – as positively as I can.

When billionaires can give $50 million, $500 million to a campaign, and there’s no limit, then it makes a mockery of ‘one man, one vote.’

I thought this convention phenomenon was very flattering, but that’s about the extent of it.

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.

I’m a chairman on the Board of Governors for the East-West Players, the longest-running Asian-American theater company in America.

I’m an actor. I love acting and being able to use my love, my passion, to also contribute to making this a better society, a better democracy, and a better country.

The Russians are taunting the IOC with the homophobic laws that they pass.

I’m especially concerned about the future of this country, because I’m concerned about the gay people of the future. We need to ensure their good life by registering to vote.

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.

Happily, the days when overt racial discrimination and segregation were championed by social conservatives are long past.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the same-sex marriage bill, my blood was boiling. I had been silent, but that night, Brad and I watched the news and saw all these young people pouring out on Santa Monica Boulevard venting their rage, and I said, ‘I have to speak out.’

They’re the best critics. Workshops are good, and drama teachers are fine, but the best is the audience. And even better if they’re paying!

I was blessed with my career. I passionately love acting. And it’s given me a good livelihood.

STAR TREK is a show that had a vision about a future that was positive.

Back in the day, coming out was something very personal. You began by acknowledging the truth, first to yourself, then to close family and friends. Those of us more in the public spotlight, though, also had to ‘come out’ to the press.

Our democracy is dependent on people who passionately cherish the ideals of a democracy. Every man is created equal with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s a wonderful idea, and it takes people who cherish that idea to be actively involved in the process.

It was an egregious violation of the American Constitution. We were innocent American citizens, and we were imprisoned simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. It shows us just how fragile our Constitution is.

I don’t consider it jumping ship. The ‘Star Trek’ philosophy is to embrace the diversity of the universe, and ‘Star Wars’ is part of that diversity. I also think ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’ are related beyond both having the word ‘Star.’