I do enjoy the fact that we don't have a king or queen; we have a person with a very unusual temp job for a few years. My favorite moments on the show were always showing the intersection of the person and the job. Any time Bartlet from the West Wing could be something other than the president - a father, or a husband, or a son, or a friend.

Never argue with a drunk or a fool.

I'm not interested in the difference between good and bad, I'm interested in the differences between good and great.

The downside to series television is that the schedule is ferocious. It constantly feels like you have a midterm due that you haven't started yet.

Honestly, I don't try to guess at what most people want. I don't think I'd guess right, and I just think that that's not a good recipe for storytelling. I try to write what I like, what I think my friends would like.

I would love for people to think that I am as quick, clever, smart and heroic as the characters that I write, but those characters are characters.

The stuff that I write doesn't work very well as background music. You have to watch it from beginning to end and pay attention as if you were watching a play.