I take it as a sign of intimacy and friendship when you feel comfortable enough with someone to have a little rough and tumble.

I often find myself writing about people taking care of each other, or trying to. And often seem to write about situations that are too big for the characters.

I feel like if you can describe something fully and accurately, then people will be able to see it themselves - they don't need be told what to.

I like to let the actors work the way they want to.

I grew up going to the movies, not watching them on television, so I'm still a bit resistant to TV as a medium.

It's not a character flaw to become an adult.

I still haven't quite caught on to the idea of writing without dialogue. I like writing dialogue, and there's nothing wrong with dialogue in movies.

You can shoot a film in New York without seeing the Empire State Building. Or Starbucks...although the latter is much less realistic.

I was nearly a teen-ager before I stopped assuming that everyone I met was Jewish.

The world is really heading in a very dangerous direction, it becomes that much more valuable and important to go to the movies and see human beings that are human beings.

I've reached a new level of closeness with a new friend when I can make a joke at their expense. That's one of the great joys of life for me.

In the moment of quietness, my strength re-energized

If we don't learn to mythologize our lives, inevitably we will pathologize them.

We can live without our friends but not without our neighbors.

I didn't grow up with a mother telling me what was under my clothes was bad or evil.

" ... What if?" Through the alchemy of those two words, something new comes into the world.

In two months Joseph Kennedy had taken over my entire life, and I trusted him implicitly to make the most of it.

The teacher has not taught until the student has learned.

standing in line is a form of oppression

It is a retarding element creating hatred and anger, and causing people to fight each other, and making them unsympathetic.

As long as we have the possibility then we still have to fight for it.