Leonard Quotes

“We’d thought we were making a TV show; instead, we had flown boldly into legend.”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With A Remarkable Man

“If you are minimal, then even a small gesture becomes a big deal.”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“Instead, what he was discovering, as I did, was that there was no such thing as post–Star Trek. In almost every story or review about whatever it was he was doing, almost inevitably there would be a reference or a comparison to Spock. “Tevye is not recognizable as Spock” or his character in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers “is the evil side of Spock.” I’ve wondered if reporters or critics ever realized when they wrote that he had successfully made the audience forget Spock for a few hours that they actually were pointing out that no one had really forgotten about Spock. Forgotten?”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“That was one of the most important lessons I ever learned, and often I found myself doing exactly what he did. If somebody asks me a question, I may have an answer, but often I’ll say, ‘But what do you think?’ I learn a lot more that way than simply by answering the question myself.” That really became an important part of his personality. Anyone who spent time with Leonard would pick up on that immediately. John de Lancie accurately described him as “a formidable listener. He listened actively, which most people don’t do.” His”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“When they reached the Hilton, something else memorable happened: Kennedy tried to stiff him for the $1.25 fare. “He stepped out of the cab and started to walk away without paying. By this time, he’d been distracted.” One thing about Leonard, when he did the work, he expected to be paid. And as I would learn, he was willing to fight for what he believed he was owed. So Leonard got out of his cab and followed Kennedy into the hotel. “I want my $1.25,” he said. Kennedy found someone he knew and borrowed $3, which he handed to Leonard. That”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“Death ends a life, but it does not end a relationship. —”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“Someone came up with the means to overcome Leonard’s physical limitations; Leonard could appear at a convention being held in Florida on Skype. The promoters sent technicians to his home, and they set up the system on his desk. There was a wonderful irony to it; the kind of space-age technology that was featured in the original series but did not exist in reality was making it possible for him to talk about it. He’d”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With A Remarkable Man

“What made the show work, in addition to the relationships between the members of the crew, were the stories we told each week. Star Trek wasa tribute to the great tradition of science fiction, in which future civilizations were used to tell contemporary morality tales, tales about subjects that couldn’t be addressed for various reasons at the time.”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With A Remarkable Man

“In 2014, we worked together for the last time. We did a Volkswagen commercial—for German television. It was a simple concept to introduce its new electric car. In recognition of the international appeal of Star Trek, a young German boy recognizes me. As the theme plays in the background, he runs into his room, which is filled from floor to ceiling with Star Trek memorabilia. Then, as the Star Trek theme plays, a garage door slowly lifts open to reveal—the new Volkswagen—with me driving. As the two of us drive along, we suddenly stop next to a futuristic concept car—with Leonard driving. He looks at us, looks at the car, and says the one word that so defined Spock: “Fascinating.” It’s hard to believe that was the last time I saw him, but it was.”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“He was fascinated by technology, although not especially knowledgeable about cutting-edge advances. He certainly did not have any of Spock’s expertise, but scientists loved to show their work to him. At one point, for example, he was visiting Caltech, and several brilliant young scientists were thrilled to explain their projects to him. I suspect Leonard had some vague idea what they were talking about, but he certainly didn’t understand the intricacies. Leonard liked to tell the story, “They would look at me and ask, ‘What do you think?’” Leonard nodded thoughtfully, then very quietly and very sagely replied, “You’re on the right track.” He”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“the most important element in the entire process was story, story, story. “It’s always the good story,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how many ships you blow up, how many missiles you fire, how many fights or disasters or stunts you show. Is it a good story? Is it something you can take home with”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“he had bought a ticket for the High Holy Day services being held in the Shrine Auditorium. He walked in expecting to find a welcoming communal atmosphere; instead, the first thing they did was raise funds for some cause. He was shocked—and stood up and walked out. His experience had been that a shul was a place for a community of people to come together to celebrate meaningful rituals. This was more like the department-store version of religious observance.”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“By the time we became friends, he was concerned he was losing his facility for the language, so he actually found a Yiddish-speaking psychiatrist in Los Angeles and paid her hourly fee once a week just to sit and speak with him in Yiddish. He”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“both of us were raised in lower-middle-class Orthodox Jewish immigrant families,”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“I did, however, watch the movie I had made in the universal language of Esperanto, Incubus. I’d made it just before we started filming Star Trek, and by the time it was released, I had already forgotten how to speak the language, so like the few people who actually saw this film, I didn’t understand it either.”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

“My hope is that I can characterize something with enough emphasis that it is very different from myself, the actor. If”
― William Shatner, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man