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

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.

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.

Public servants in this Europe often do their best when they stop caring about whether they'll be fired.

Unless you learn how to love yourself first, you will not be able to truly love anyone else

The costume of women should be suited to her wants and needs.

I have a long history in fighting for civil rights. I understand that many people in the African-American community may not understand that.

My mom modeled and made clothes, so I always had such an appreciation for design. And then Gossip Girl completely blew open the door to fashion for me.

In the decades to come, the successful places will tend to be the smaller traditional towns and cities with viable farming hinterlands.

The word happiness exists in every language; it is plausible the thing itself exists.

Learn this of me, where'er thy lot doth fall, Short lot, or not, to be content with all.

I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.

Our first duty is not to hate ourselves, because to advance we must have faith in ourselves first and then in God. Those who have no faith in themselves can never have faith in God.