No matter our talent, we all know in the midnight of our souls that 90 percent of what we do is less than our best.

All writing is discipline, but screenwriting is a drill sergeant.

A fine work of art - music, dance, painting, story - has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.

When we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we want meaningful emotional experience, we go to the storyteller.

Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.

In a world of lies and liars, an honest work of art is always an act of social responsibility.

Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly.

Boredom is the inner conflict we suffer when we lose desire, when we lack a lacking.

In comedy laughter settles all arguments.

Story is metaphor for life and life is lived in time.

Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.

When you're finally a grown-up, one of the things you find is that there are no grown-ups.

I'm learning how to keep my identity and personal life sacred. It's a matter of knowing my limits. I don't have to give everything that's asked of me.

I'm not always a heartbroken guy. I like to laugh, act silly, dance. There are so many more colors to me. I really can be fun.

It's in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.

You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else.

I haven't had to struggle very much. I haven't paid my dues. I think I have been lucky.

Just this once, let it be easy.

You go to jail for drinking beer and then walking with your bike. You go to jail for smoking a joint. For abortion. This is a nihilist policy which hurts people.

To laugh, to lie, to flatter, to face: Four ways in court to win man's grace.

Virtue alone is true nobility.