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'm a playwright. All I care about is the play being good.

You know, one of the things I like about this world, or at least I like about the way we're presenting this world, is these issues are terribly complicated - not nearly as black and white as we're led to believe.

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

It wouldn't kill you to watch a film or pick up a newspaper once in a while.

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.

Develop your own compass, and trust it. Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt.