Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.

Any time you get two people in a room who disagree about anything, the time of day, there is a scene to be written. That's what I look for.

If you close your eyes you can imagine the hackers sitting in a room, combing through the documents to find the ones that will draw the most blood. And in a room next door are American journalists doing the same thing. As demented and criminal as it is, at least the hackers are doing it for a cause. The press is doing it for a nickel.

I grew up in the theatre. It's where I got my start. Writing a television drama with theatrical dialogue about the theatre is beyond perfection.

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.

Toby Zeigler: There's literally no one in the world I don't hate right now.

Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them.