If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences - where things turn out better than you thought they would - ought to be in there somewhere, too.
Someone once told me that something they really liked about me was that they thought that I was really down to earth and not high-maintenance. I think that was cool. It's important to stay grounded.
When I make movies, I have a lot of respect for my audience. I think my audience is smart. If there's a way to be entertained and get things out - real things, not stupid moral crap - that's the best.
I don't think there's anything anybody's doing that the Beatles didn't at least try at some point.
I'm not particularly good at 'celebrity'; I don't think it was something I was born to do. I think I can get by as an actor, but I've never been one for the red carpet and don't put a lot of stock in celebrities that are famous for being famous.
If you think about Protestant and Catholic or Shiite and Sunni, they are basically the same thing... one eats with their left hand, the other eats with their right hand.
I think day care is terrific. Kids get to be around other kids, and they're playing, and they're teaching each other. When I was in college, my summer job was being a preschool teacher. I loved it, and after that experience, I said I can't wait to put my kid in day care because I could see how much they loved it.
When you think about where are you going to find that big love of your life, you seldom think it's someone you already know. You think it's someone you're yet to meet.
I like to do TV series. I think they're so comfortable. You're doing the same part every week.
Just as there are moments when the words flow and it feels like the easiest job in the world, there are many more when I think I have nothing to say, and my journalism training taught me that writing is a job, that you write whether you are inspired or not, and that the only way to unlock creativity is to write through it.
Chefs think about what it's like to make food. Being a scientist in the kitchen is about asking why something works, and how it works.
Whenever I write a part, I think there's this person somewhere in the world that this part is specifically for, and all I have to do is go searching to find that particular individual.
I prefer to put myself in an environment that's further afield and look through the eyes of someone who differs from me in age, ethnicity, gender, and/or social class. I think a little displacement makes me a sharper observer.
If you were to find all the people I've worked with and ask them what they think of me, they're all just going to say, 'Oh, wonderful', and it'll just be a lot of blah.
Who can complain about the price that Google is charging you? Or who can complain about Amazon's prices; they are simply lower than the competition's. And that's why I think we need to shift back to a more Brandeisian conception of antitrust, where we consider values other than simply efficiency and low prices.
If you don't like me, life goes on, you know what I mean? But I hope you do like me. Because I think that in addition to being pushy, I'm nice.
My company is known for being funny as well as moving. You get a bit of everything in these shows. I think people know they're going to have a surprising experience.
I think humans have always wrestled with the Divine Idea - an idea that unites and separates, creates and destroys, consoles and terrifies. Throughout human history, it is an idea that seems sometimes to have caused whole populations to rise up and slaughter one another.
I think I still like science and art better, but geometry is a big improvement over algebra.
I think they should let gays in the military because we are the United States of America. And if a gay person wants to serve his or her country, why should they not be allowed to?
If there's something I really like or a chord progression, I write a note in my Blackberry, and maybe a year later, I'll revisit it and ask, 'What did I like about that?' I really don't try to think too much about it. I like to be fresh.
I think one of my favorite productions ever was Sondheim's 'Assassins' at the Roundabout in 2004. Beyond brilliant.
I don't think the U.S. military is conservative. It's pragmatic.
I think some of the funniest and most artistic people I know are the ones who had a hard time at school. They often have humility and artistry. So, as much as I feel bad for kids who have to go through a rough childhood, I believe that if they can turn it around, it's going to make them better people later on.
I no longer think you can live without passion.
I'm not a good storyteller. I always think I'm going to get interrupted, or something's going to get edited. I think that comes from being in a large family, so you have to get your story in really quick or someone cuts you off.
I think this happens to a lot of people, men and women, where you reach a point in your life and all of a sudden realize that things have changed. You suddenly realize that people are coming up behind you, that maybe somebody might want to replace you for less money.
I sometimes feel like a British writer more so than I feel like an American writer. But I think that has to do with my subjective understanding of what it means to be either of those things.
I should like to think that we'll find peace on this Earth at some point and come to a collective consciousness of compassion for each other, where we say, 'Enough! Let us live as one!'
It's not okay to lie about people and particularly not okay to hurl the worst imaginable names at people just because you think you might not like their politics.
I love Michelle Williams. I think she's extraordinary. I was such a fan of 'Blue Valentine,' and I heard stories about how Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams worked on that. They lived together for a period of time as rehearsal. From nine in the morning to five at night, living in a space together. The work is really awe-inspiring.
I really look up to Louis C.K. I think he's great. And obviously he's very popular, more popular than me. Years ago, I was thinking, naively, it would be great to be that popular. And then I thought about it and then I realized that, with his money and his level of notoriety, he has all of the same emotions that I do.
I was traumatized by the cartoon version of 'The Hobbit.' It's not supposed to be scary, I don't think, but literally I think that's the most scared I've ever been.
'South Park' movie was R. There's a place that people are not occupying, thinking that animated has to be family always, and I don't think that's true.
Well I think a lot of times we're putting things off and I'm going to do it later. I'm going to break this bad habit or I'm going to pursue this dream or I'm going to treat my spouse better.
Because I've a track record of talking about books I never write, in Australia they think I'm about to write a book about Jane Austen. Something I said at some festival.
