I'm afraid of only two things: being lazy and being cowardly. I get up early in the morning and go to work. I love to write.

Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills.

The Oscars demonstrate the will of the people to control and judge those they have elected to stand above them (much, perhaps, as in bygone days, an election celebrated the same).

Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?"

When the three branches of government have failed to represent the citizenry and the mass of the media has failed to represent the citizenry, then the citizenry better represent the citizenry.

Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.

It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.

Opportunity may knock, but it seldom nags.

We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.

People may or may not say what they mean... but they always say something designed to get what they want.

Being a writer in Hollywood is like going to Hitler's Eagle Nest with a great idea for a bar mitzvah.

I’m in love with you, ” I whispered, searching her eyes. i looked very pale and very scared, and a little…hopeful.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

The poet's spoken discourse often depends on a mystique, on the spiritual freedom that finds itself enslaved on earth.

Black culture is cool, but black issues sure aren't, huh?

A true competitor works the hardest, cares the most, and makes the best of what they have.

Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.

The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything.

Politics isn't about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives.

The guy [Bill Clinton] was a known, let's say, "raconteur."

In the end, the writer is not even allowed to live in his writing.