George Takei Quotes

I spent my boyhood behind the barbed wire fences of American internment camps and that part of my life is something that I wanted to share with more people.

Our differences in beliefs do not truly separate us, or elevate us over others. Rather, they highlight the rich tapestry that is humanity.

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.

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.

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

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.

It’s really hard to hate someone for being different when you’re too busy laughing together.

The only thing worse than human ignorance is human pride in that ignorance.

The starship Enterprise was a metaphor starship Earth, and the vision was that the strength of this starship lay in its diversity.

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.’

You know, when a man is raped you never hear about what he was wearing.

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.

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.

This is supposed to be a participatory democracy and if we're not in there participating then the people that will manipulate and exploit the system will step in there.

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

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.

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.

Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.

As the old saying goes, I was simply looking for fan love, in Alderaan places.

But when we came out of camp, that's when I first realized that being in camp, that being Japanese-American, was something shameful.

Do your duty as an American, and as a citizen of the galaxy... Vote!

To do theater you need to block off a hunk of time.

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.

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.

I have two passions in my life. One is to raise the awareness of the internment of Japanese-American citizens. My other passion is the theater.

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.

The word today is "detained," not "interred." People are being detained with no due process. They don't know what the charges are, why they're being detained. Simply because they have an Arab name or some association, but there are no charges.

I think we learn more from those times in our history where we stumbled as a democracy than we learn from the glorious chapters.

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.

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.

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.

Facebook itself has an interest in having great content so that its users keep coming back.

We must remind ourselves that an assault on any one of our liberties and freedoms is an assault on all.

Cat's are unpredictable. It is a fine line between the cure, inquisitive and innocent creature resting on our lap and the hissing, spitting and deranged banshee it might become at any moment. This is why we're trying always to win their love.

My memories of camp - I was four years old to eight years old - they're fond memories.

Social media is like ancient Egypt: writing things on walls and worshiping cats.

Confidence in the human capacity for problem solving, for invention, for innovation.

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

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

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

The theatre for me is much more satisfying as an actor because you are working in front of a living, breathing, throbbing, gasping, laughing and hopefully applauding audience. And the immediate connection you get with that audience is very satisfying.

Well, it gives, certainly to my father, who is the one that suffered the most in our family, and understanding of how the ideals of a country are only as good as the people who give it flesh and blood.

Life is too short not to order the bacon dessert.

Nothing is what it seems on the surface of Heroes.

For me, country music symbolized freedom and the joys of life... roaming the country, experiencing the joys as well as the heartbreaks. It was a transporting kind of song, and I'd just kind of sing along with them.

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.

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.

The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay. The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young.

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.

The large majority of faith-based people are decent, fair-minded people. We should not characterize people of faith as the adversaries of GLBT equality.