The civil libertarians among us would rather defend the constitution than protect our nation's security.

We don't pay judges to think; we pay judges to rule on the law.

We represent our constituents. And so they don't get to dictate policy.

Donald Trump is saying we're going to end the lawlessness at the border and we're going to push Mexico to do better. So there's been a reaction by the activist community to attack him.

Some of my best friends are FBI agents.

I am totally committed to maintaining the freedom and equality America has to provide to every citizen.

We need more American energy. It keeps wealth at home. It keeps our wealth from ending up in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. It creates jobs at home.

Donald Trump can improve and get better as he goes along, and I think he will.

I believe that President [George W.] Bush was correct. I thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and I supported him steadfastly, and once we committed we should see it through.

I certainly believe that improving our intelligence is of important national interest.

I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create. I am not a racist. I am not insensitive to blacks.

Women create an idealized, hopeful vision for the future to inspire other women. Fiction and fantasy are the crucial first steps to changing the world.

For many people around the world ethnicity is not a language, it is a religion.

My experience of great storytelling, working with classics, is just finding a way to present it simply but let the story do its own work, or be an invite to the audience's imagination.

For 40 years, everyone running for president has released their tax returns. You can go and see nearly, I think, 39, 40 years of our tax returns, but everyone has done it.

Government is about stealing and nothing else. That's all it's ever been about. That's all it'll ever be about.

I write a book over a period of months or years, and when I'm done with it, usually another year goes by before I see it in print. It's hard to be patient and wait

Putting words on paper regularly is part of the necessary discipline of writing. A journal is a great way to do that.

Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.

Writers do the self-censoring before they even get to the studio executive, because they know the film will not run that gauntlet. They, because they want to get their films made, they censor it.

I never wanted the ha-ha-ha laughter [at my shows]. I always aimed for the gut. I always aimed for the pretty girls in the front row, laughing and leaning over and pooting.