My Alma mater is the Chicago Public Library.

Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills.

The Oscars demonstrate the will of the people to control and judge those they have elected to stand above them (much, perhaps, as in bygone days, an election celebrated the same).

Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?"

When the three branches of government have failed to represent the citizenry and the mass of the media has failed to represent the citizenry, then the citizenry better represent the citizenry.

Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.

It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.

Opportunity may knock, but it seldom nags.

We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.

People may or may not say what they mean... but they always say something designed to get what they want.

Being a writer in Hollywood is like going to Hitler's Eagle Nest with a great idea for a bar mitzvah.

Sometimes you come to realize you understand something but you can’t explain it to anyone, not even yourself. This is perhaps the most sacred kind of understanding.

Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss.

Think about someone, such as a teacher who may have inspired you. Their care and love must have shone through. That is the reason to follow those who set a good example of life.

It's amazing how good getting up and moving makes you feel.

We don't believe in a small America. We believe in a big America - a tolerant America, a just America, an equal America - that values the service of every patriot.

We see ourselves as first helping to open up markets to competition.

One good reason for writing novels based on your life is that you have something to read in old age when you've forgotten what happened.

A fig-tree looking on a fig-tree becometh fruitful," says the Arabian proverb. And so it is with children; their first great instructor is example.

My mother always told me before shows to stand up and show them whose little boy you are.

My favorite meal? It has to be furburgers everyday in the morning.