I was surprised by how warm the response was, even among studio heads, who said they really, we do have to do something about glamourization of smoking.

I have always been fascinated by the corruption of power.

I have only one loyalty - to my writing. I never wanted to be the head of a studio or a producer.

That's sort of what I felt... I miss drinking, I thought bars were truly holy places.

Cigarettes are not a part of human behaviour, they are a habit.

The studios have been taken over by marketing people and accountants.

Let's make Joe Lieberman accountable for his rhetoric. Not a penny more until he 'clarifies' his position to the satisfaction of our creative freedom.

Politics has become entertainment.

I worry that we are approaching a time when that which is shocking is squeezed out by the Stalinism of political correctness.

My father could have been deported because on his immigration application he said that he was a printer, obviously because he didn't want them to be checking his writings.

I have my own religious bond with the God in my own head.

How would you document the history of today?

I ceased to serve a king and began, instead, to serve a kingdom.

I am attracted to certain types of people: the outrageous, outstanding and the one's pegged as odd. The 3 O's remind me not to be ordinary.

Adults tell students that it gets better, that the world changes after school, that being 'different' will pay off sometime after graduation. But no one explains to them why.

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.

I'm never afraid to try something if I think it's funny. And I know I'll regret it if I don't.

If you didn't have some sense of idealism, then what is there to sustain you?

There's a lot of personal stuff that can go into songwriting but there's also a lot of dramatization and fictionalization. You have to do that to make a good song.

It is much safer to reconcile an enemy than to conquer him; victory may deprive him of his poison, but reconciliation of his will.

There is no joy nobler than suffering for the sake of love for man.