My parents went crazy when they found out that I had gotten the part in 'Conversations With My Father!' I'd never given acting a thought. They were proud of me and very encouraging.

What's great is that because math is such a universal language, really, our fans come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and genders and races and backgrounds and cultures.

So many shows out there dumb-down the country. It's so admirable to be part of a show that wants people to think.

[10 Things I Hate About You] was the most fun I ever had making a movie. Everyone got along really, really well from day one. It was like summer camp.

There is only so much I can understand and not screw up.

[Lauren Ambrose's] character [in Can't Hardly Wait] feels real and unexaggerated and becomes sort of a heroine archetype. I think that was cool. It wasn't in every one of those comedies.

Me, I look in the mirror and all I see is this Jewish kid from Queens.

Obviously [Can't Hardly Wait] wasn't in American Pie, which was a movie about some teenage boys.

I lost some weight, grew my hair and now every woman in America over 40 wants to date me. It's their daughters I want to convince.

To go to L.A. and be on the Addams Family set? It was beautiful production design and an illustrious set. I'm focused on never losing that sense of privilege. I'm still like, "I'm super lucky."

That's basically what I did every weekend when I was a kid, just go and see two movies per weekend.

Out of suffering comes creativity

David Roberts, who is a writer at Vox who I like, had a line about the voter - your voters weren't locked in the room with you, Republican establishment. You were locked in the room with them.

Really, The smart thing to do was to stop dating and get a cat.

You must think of failure and defeat as the spring boards to new achievements, and to the next level of accomplishment.

If you try to make a silent movie with a normal script and you just pull out the dialogue, you will have big problems with the actors because you will ask them to tell a story that you don't know.

But on and up, where Nature's heart Beats strong amid the hills.

The worst defect in the world would be to consider yourself free from faults. Being too greatly saddened by one's faults can come from having one's pride humiliated.

Sometimes in Washington you get a little disconnected. I want to make sure I know what people are actually doing each day.

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.

Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice To change true rules for odd inventions.