The threat to free television. The reason television is free is because it is a life support system for commercials. That fundamental aspect is about to change.

It's show business. No show, no business.

I think most people don't react well to being screamed at. It's counterproductive.

The story drove the book. That had a very seminal effect on the way I saw writing and storytelling. If you can set a character in a story that is compelling and has a backbone, you draw people in.

I get bored with establishing shots of people getting out of cars and walking into buildings, getting into elevators and then 45 seconds later they have a line.

It was like in Samoa when they'd put up a movie screen on the beach and show movies and the locals would run behind the sheet to see where the people went. It was pretty grim.

And the consumer doesn't care. They don't watch networks, they watch TV shows.

I try to just communicate what I want done as clearly and simply as possible.

People recognize certain things, like 'D' means 'this dialogue stinks.' We're dealing with shows that are written here, shot in New York and posted back here. Accurate communication is a necessity.

Advertising is the art of the tiny. You have to tell a complete a story and deliver a complete message in a very encapsulated form. It disciplines you to cut away extraneous information.

I was raised not to be rude, but I also try to get the best work out of people.

Let us rise in mighty strength to build the nation.

I like things pretty close around me. I like to know that my house is safe, that the people and animals I love are well and happy. I like to feel as peaceful as possible.

Stop...Stop what you're doing...Stop what you're doing and breathe.

Pain is a poison; pleasure an intoxicant.

Hell is having no option but the wrong one.

To really 'live,' that is to find life reasonably satisfying, you must have an adequate and realistic self-image that you can life with. You must find yourself acceptable to 'you.'

It's not how many books you get through, it's how many books get through you.

Perhaps fishing is, for me, only an excuse to be near rivers.

[The director] has to, I feel, be one step back, not only from cinema, but also from politics and all these issues in order to tell and depict the situation that spreads to people.