Trying to guess what the (mass) audience wants and then trying to satisfy that is usually a bad recipe for getting something good.

Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day: civility, respect, kindness, character.

It seems to me that more and more we've come to expect less and less from each other, and I think that should change.

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

The Monica Lewinsky scandal was happening at the very time I was writing the West Wing pilot and it was hard, at least for Americans, to look at the White House and think of anything but a punch line. Plus a show about politics, a show that took place in Washington, had just never worked before in American television. So the show was delayed for a year.

It's a combination of life being unpredictable, and you being super dumb.

I'm terribly afraid of failure. When your identity is wrapped up in writing and you've written something that doesn't work, it's a tough pill to swallow.