Everything is more compelling when you talk like a human being, when you talk like yourself.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.

The most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work.

We're Jews, my family, and Jews break down into two distinct subcultures: book Jews and money Jews. We were money Jews.

Not enough gets said about the importance of abandoning crap.

You can criticize yourself to a point to do something better, or you criticize yourself to a point where you inhibit yourself.

Great stories happen to those who can tell them.

We live in a world where joy and empathy and pleasure are all around us, there for the noticing.

It takes a while. It's gonna take you a while. It's normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.

You'd think that radio was around long enough that someone would have coined a word for staring into space.

It's not a terribly original thing to say, but I love Raymond Carver. For one thing, he's fun to read out loud.

What if feeling good only comes after you destroy someone you hate?''That's not good, that's triumph,

You better have some skills in this world. You better bring something to the dinner party or you will be the dinner.

The years of the economic depression have been years of political reaction, and that is why the economic crisis has generated a world peace crisis.

It's weird, the idea of someone else playing my dad, but weirdly nice.

The true worth of an experimenter consists in his pursuing not only what he seeks in his experiment, but also what he did not seek.

I've seen so many thousands of hands that I am just going to be right more often than most people.

You have had presidential candidates over the last 30 years who would have had a very hard time getting nominated under the old system. One example is John Kennedy.

We have banished our artists to the fringe of society and tell them to eat cake. It is our artists who choose freedom over safety and use their talents to question and confront the culture.

I do count on a changing of tides. All too often, what could be a critics' darling today becomes tomorrow's target. I don't want to be too blasé about it.

There are two components that are fundamental to enjoy life and feel good about yourself: continual learning and service.