So much of great American drama has been about a certain kind of dysfunctional family, and maybe my interests are in the kind of strange dysfunction that exists even among deeply functional families.

In reality, life was arranged and human relations were complicated so utterly beyond all understanding that when one thought about it one felt uncanny and one's heart sank.

Writing plays for me is often an act of looking at basement-level fears in terms of where they come from.

The best work that I am able to do is when I am willing to write about questions I haven't quite figured out, or things I'm really wrestling with, things that keep me up at night.

I'm always very self-conscious and assume the way faith or religion might come up in my plays will seem very harsh to people of faith, or who are currently practicing.

I'm still learning so much with every play I write. So I wrestle with word choice, rhythm in final drafts. I think you have to be ruthless.

I know how much respect I have for people of all different faiths, but especially for my family, who are the most important people in my life, and who are still practicing, and deeply religious.

Priests are very interested in theater in New York! It's this lovely reminder that priests are just people, too, who need to be entertained.

Receptive prayer is one of the most powerful weapons against spiritual u-turns.

We can choose not to remember this day, but bones have strong memories. And earth never forgets.

It's an ill plan that cannot be changed.

Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.

People have called me Superman my whole life. In various sports, that seems to be the common theme. My favorite superhero is actually the Incredible Hulk. He's the only superhero that can't die.

I never lost a little fish - Yes, I'm free to say. It always was the biggest fish I caught, that got away.

Holiness is not freedom from temptation, but power to overcome temptation.

Leaders have two characteristics: first they are going somewhere, and second they are able to persuade other people to go with them.

There are all sorts of ways of murdering a person or at least his soul, and that's something no police in the world can spot.

I don't think I'm great at acting. I think I'm great at directing.