I love writing but hate starting. The page is awfully white and it says, "You may have fooled some of the people some of the time but those days are over, giftless. I'm not your agent and I'm not your mommy, I'm a white piece of paper, you wanna dance with me?" and I really, really don't. I'll go peaceable-like.

As a dramatist, you're looking for points of friction.

I consider plot a necessary intrusion on what I really want to do, which is write snappy dialogue. But when I'm writing, the way the words sound is as important to me as what they mean.

The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one - America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

Just to clarify the division of labor on the show, I write the show and Alan [Poul] does everything else.

When I write something, I want the best director to direct it. And that's not going to be me.

A hero would die for his country, but he'd much rather live for it.