Michael Schur Quotes

The best shows are always the ones that are very, very low-concept and just about great characters.

If the doors aren't open, just kick them in and keep walking.

Sometimes you've got to just commit to the idea and press forward and trust that you made the right decision.

I stopped using Twitter for a while just because I got sick of it and I started using it again, but I don't check the "mentions."

You can't just sit around in leopard-print slippers and drink champagne all day and think everything's gonna work out somehow.

I got a lot of texts from friends and emails from friends and most of them were just pure jealousy.

You really don't settle on an idea until you're really sure it's the best idea. Then once you settle on it you commit to it entirely. That was always the plan.

You should be nice to people because it's better to be nice to people than mean to people, not because you think there's something in it for you.

All of comedy at some level is trial-and-error, whether it's a stand-up trying out jokes or a comedy show trying stories.

For storytelling purposes, there has to be conflict, but that doesn't mean the people have to be mean. I've never liked mean-spirited comedy.

I care more about making sure the story is correct and the characters are behaving in character than I do about the individual jokes.

And personally I will say that Amy Poehler deserves about a thousand trophies and so one is a good start, and I'm hoping this is the first of a thousand. That's my personal hope.

My favorite sitcom of all time is 'Cheers.' That's a perfect example of how, like, people made fun of Cliff, but you never got the sense that they didn't like Cliff.

It's so much easier to write for an actor than for an imaginary character and then try to fit that character to an actor. It doesn't work very often in my experience.

I hate this phrase, but it's a "can do" attitude [that's important] that, whatever you do in life, you should have.

I think that that the main problem with a lot of social media stuff in terms of ratings is it's a very skewed motivation.

I am not on Facebook. I'm not on Instagram. I only use Twitter, which I wish I didn't.

People do things with terrible motivations and those motivations are selfish and self-interested and financially driven.

Rule number one for the writers when we committed to the jump was: no hoverboards. No one is allowed to pitch that everyone is on hoverboards. It's going to be very very gently sci-fi.

I don't know why anybody does anything in the world of television.

I am of the opinion that there is more high-quality television being produced than at any time in the history of television.

I think if you're too concerned with being cool or hip or liked, you can't really make good TV because sincerity and coolness are opposites.

One of the worst things you could do in that world is curse at someone.

My favorite TV show of all time is 'The Wire,' which has the feeling of a project-based show. You draw in people from disparate parts of the world, and they have to work together to achieve a goal.

I would far rather add a character who generates strong feelings than someone who just kind of floats along, generating medium-warmth smiles of gentle affirmation.