Gelman Quotes & Sayings

I have never tried anything psychedelic, but I've always wanted to. Would I be wrapped up in colors, attacked by sounds, filled with insights about worlds I don't even know exist? — Rita Golden Gelman

I'm an actor. I've always been an actor. I've always approached all my comedy as an actor. I don't really care about jokes either. I tire of jokes. — Brett Gelman

The typical backpacker is unmarried, educated, but not yet on the career track. Among the backpackers, there are always a lot of young Europeans who work for a year or two at home, save their money, then travel until it runs out. Canadians and Australians are also backpack travelers; so are Israelis, taking a year off after serving in the army, and New Zealanders on their great "OE," overseas experience. There are Americans as well; but the Americans are usually on a tighter schedule, and I find them less friendly, at least to me. — Rita Golden Gelman

There were times that the kids were upset I wasn't there, those three times a year they needed me. The rest of the time, I'm sure that I wasn't in their thoughts. — Rita Gelman

I've worked for 55 years. I'm going to take a little time off, to tell you the truth. It's just that now in the last couple of weeks, Gelman is pouring it on. 'Farewell to Regis!' It's getting embarrassing. — Regis Philbin

I'm an obvious example of how everyone is spiraling out of control on the show and just trying to live life the best they can without destroying themselves. — Brett Gelman

But I'm not running away. I'm running toward... toward adventure, toward discovery, toward diversity. And while I was in Mexico I discovered something intruiging: Once I leave the U.S., I am not bound by the rules of my culture. And when I am a foreigner in another country, I am exempt from the local rules. This extraordinary situation means that there are no rules in my life. I am free to live by the standards and ideals and rules I create for myself. — Rita Golden Gelman

When I'm by myself, I'm not threatening at all. I get many more invitations than I would if I were traveling with anyone else, especially with a man. But I'm rarely alone. I sit on a park bench and I'm not alone because I pick a park bench where somebody interesting is sitting. — Rita Gelman

I don't want to be responsible anymore. I don't want to have plans. I just want to float through the world. — Rita Gelman

("It is a blessing to die in the natural order." - Sofia Gelman.) — Boris Fishman

I burned so long so quiet you must have wondered
if I loved you back. I did, I did, I do. — Annelyse Gelman

When we are finished the little boy walks over to me and looks up at my chest. Then he reaches up and cups my breast in his hand. The mother comes over and does the same thing with my other breast. Yes I am the same I nod. Look. I pull up my shirt and unhook my bra. My breasts pop out and they both smile.

I think about the Zapotec village in Mexico where I was not accepted until I was wearing their clothes and the Balinese ceremonies I would never have attended in anything but a kebaya and a sarong. I smile when I realize that if I were to live here I would walk around topless. If I weren't with three westerners I would do it right now. — Rita Golden Gelman

I've definitely had my hard partying moments. I've definitely had the long stretches of time in my personal life where I've felt an intense loneliness and a desperation to feel something real and to have something that truly meant something in my life. — Brett Gelman

I came back once or twice a year to visit my family, and then I would take off again. In the beginning, I think everybody thought I would get over it and get it out of my system. And I never did. — Rita Gelman

I have buried my fears, abandoned self-consciousness, and allowed myself to slide into sensation. I like the person I have become. — Rita Golden Gelman

Even the people who do great jokes, [it's] always coming out of a very real place. — Brett Gelman

Comedy is about flaws anyway ... There's a lot of humor in the dark areas of life. — Brett Gelman

Woody Allen - nobody has been a better joke teller than him - and even in his great films, it's always coming out of the character. If you don't have that, jokes are just empty and I think that people rely too much on jokes. — Brett Gelman

There are times when the state department says not to travel to a place, but I'll look it up and find out for myself. For years, even Bali was off the list because they had been bombed. I totally ignored that. — Rita Gelman

My spirit gets nourished in faraway places. Sometimes I wonder if it's a biological need, perhaps a biological flaw, that compels me to seek the excitement and challenge that comes of being in a place where nobody knows me.

Other times I think that my compulsion to settle into communities that are different from the ones I know is related to my passion for experiential learning. I learn best and most happily by doing, touching, sharing, tasting. When I'm somewhere I've never been before, learning goes on all day, every day. — Rita Golden Gelman

Look, words are like the air: they belong to everybody. Words are not the problem; it's the tone, the context, where those words are aimed, and in whose company they are uttered. Of course murderers and victims use the same words, but I never read the words utopia, or beauty, or tenderness in police descriptions. Do you know that the Argentinean dictatorship burnt The Little Prince ? And I think they were right to do so, not because I do not love The Little Prince , but because the book is so full of tenderness that it would harm any dictatorship. — Juan Gelman

We have to laugh at how hard life can be and how screwed up we can be at times ... It's a really freeing process when you're not hitting the jokes too hard. — Brett Gelman

If you don't talk to strangers, your life is so limited. If you're careful about what you eat, you'll never try anything adventurous. — Rita Gelman

Perhaps it is the setting; rules tend to reduce their grip when you cross borders. — Rita Golden Gelman

I'm not someone who shies away from darkness being funny. — Brett Gelman

I don't worry about being a woman alone out there. My advice to people is to smile a lot, talk to strangers, accept all invitations and eat everything you're offered. — Rita Gelman

I'm not a stranger to depression and desperation. I can be kind of tortured but I do like to have a lot of fun. — Brett Gelman

I think that life is very dark at times and there are things that are very funny about that. — Brett Gelman

Risk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingredients of joy. Without risk, nothing new ever happens. Without trust, fear creeps in. Without serendipity, there are no surprises. — Rita Gelman

I move throughout the world...guided by instinct, connecting through trust, and constantly watching for serendipitous opportunities. — Rita Golden Gelman

Even here, in the U.S., I walk my daughter's dog and I look for interesting people sitting at a picnic table and I walk over with my white hair and I ask, "Would you mind if I sat and rested here for a minute?" Nobody would refuse that. — Rita Gelman

She is learning toward me, animatedly asking questions, and he is a half step back. It happens three more times that night and many times over the next years. Usually it's the women who identify with me and ask the questions. It isn't the details of my travels that intrigue them; it's the fact that I am living a rich, fulfilling life. And I'm doing it without a man. For many women, my story awakens buried dreams or stimulates new ones. — Rita Golden Gelman

Stay away from Europe, stay away from Japan, Australia. If you go to the Western world, you're gonna pay more money. You can spend five months in Bali for what you'd spend in one month in Europe. — Rita Gelman

Take what happened to me in Bali. I planned on going to Ubud, then met a man on an airplane who told me it was too touristy. He gave me an address on the other side of the island, which turned out to be a palace where I lived for four years. — Rita Gelman

Eat where the people eat, not the hotels and touristy restaurants. If a local teacher makes $50 a month and they're living decently, see what they do. — Rita Gelman