I was born in Iran, left at a very young age - less than a year old - and grew up and was educated in the West.
I love more than anything looking at a movie scene by scene and seeing the intention behind it.
Slavery is no more sinful, by the Christian code, than it is sinful to wear a whole coat, while another is in tatters, to eat a better meal than a neighbor, or otherwise to enjoy ease and plenty, while our fellow creatures are suffering and in want.
I think it's linked to the realisation that we're not going to live forever and that the way of saying and the language become more important than the story.
I developed a sense of maturity when it comes to being dependent upon other people. I don't feel anyone really truly wants me to win more than I do.
I learned from the example of my father that the manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured.
Harmony is when the sum is greater than the parts. A happy exaggeration.
My version, of course, is not this flag-waving, let's all get on the Jesus train and ride out of hell. I'm not that kind of guy. It's an embrace that life is good, worth living and yeah, it's not easy, but there are more pluses than minuses.
When you talk about obesity, there's so many things that can cause that. It can be a medical thing, or down to the individual. There's a lot of other things involved than eating a Mars bar.
I used to think that if I had success I would have freedom. But I have less freedom now than I've ever had. And what gives me satisfaction is not the jewelry and not the cars. What gives me satisfaction is doing things for others, like children.
Our artillery has really been sensational. For once we have enough of something and at the right time. Officers tell me they actually have more guns than they know what to do with.
I think beauty is not just about what we put on our heads or on our faces or what we wear: it's deeper than that, and if we can celebrate that, celebrate the women, not just the superficiality... I think it would be really gorgeous.
Better to fight for something than live for nothing.
Tariffs that save jobs in the steel industry mean higher steel prices, which in turn means fewer sales of American steel products around the world and losses of far more jobs than are saved.
You don't come into this life wanting to be anything other than happy.
During the period of capital moving from one employment to another, the profits on that to which capital is flowing will be relatively high, but will continue so no longer than till the requisite capital is obtained.
The American people I talk to don't spend every moment thinking, 'How can I tax my neighbor more than they're being taxed?' They say, 'How can I get a good job? How can my kids get good jobs? How can seniors have a confidence in their future when they know that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt?'
If you want to treat China as an enemy, you have a much better chance of making them an enemy than if you treat them as a potential friend.
Our focus should be on the more than 70 cures and treatments that have been successfully produced from other forms of stem cell research that do not destroy a human life.
After student years of flat-sharing and living with other people's taste, I went into decorating overdrive when I acquired my first apartment - its floor plan not much bigger than the vintage Hermes scarves I then wore side-knotted on my head, pirate-style.
That said, there is a tendency to help the large industrial conglomerate more quickly than the small company you have never heard of. That is something in the culture we are trying to change.
I love this country, I love these people, though I can't say I love their politicians. People are always nicer than politicians, but here, you can mark that difference up a hundredfold.
You don't realize how useful a therapist is until you see yourself on e and discover you have more problems than you ever dreamed of.
Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.
It's a lot of work and I also feel like I've done it. I miss comedy. And I also think that, from purely a logistical standpoint, that the day-to-day schedule on a comedy allows you to have a life, much more of a life, than on a drama.
I think American guys tend to be a bit more forward, a bit more chatty and open than the Brits. The Brits seem to have a darker sense of humor, though I have met some Americans who have adopted bits of the British dry sense of humor as well.
It's funny because when I got 'Jarhead' and 'Avatar' and all those movies, 'Leprechaun' still to this day airs on BET. I was thinking, 'Will they just let it go? I finally have a body of work that can speak much better to what I can do than just Leprechaun.'
Nonfiction is both easier and harder to write than fiction. It's easier because the facts are already laid out before you, and there is already a narrative arc. What makes it harder is that you are not free to use your imagination and creativity to fill in any missing gaps within the story.
There's no one I trust in show business more than Sabrina Wind. She's my eyes and ears when I can't be there. She weighs in on everything, from scripts to sets to advertising.
I think one reason people play golf is it allows them to obsess about something other than the daily crap. It takes your mind off that.
It is better to discuss things, to argue and engage in polemics than make perfidious plans of mutual destruction.
Which, of course, isn't the point of writing - but it would be nice if, along with the creative satisfaction of writing and seeing my work in print, I could do more than merely scrape a living. Okay, moaning over.
What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
A nation that forgets its past can function no better than an individual with amnesia.
I think we're probably more unified than ever before because we're in a battle for survival. Not only for survival as the Republican Party, but survival of the check and balance system in our government.
I'd rather get back to making art than talk about it.
