You don't want to become one of those Hollywood idiots who is just blathering about anything

People always say, "Could it have been a show about a conservative Republican administration?" No! Nobody wants to watch that! Watching Republicans flirt makes people queasy!

The invisible carnage of the unf-ed wives and the children not being read to is just wafting out.

Take action. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life. Action is the antidote to apathy and cynicism and despair. You will inevitably make mistakes but at the end of your days, you will be remembered for your gallop, not for your stumble.

I used to defend the West Wing show from the charge of sentimentality or wish-fulfilment, because I think if you do go into the Barack Obama White House you will find six or seven people around him who are true believers. We make these people climb this filthy rope and then we stand at the bottom and say, "Hey, your hands are dirty!" To show heroic, progressive, democratic politics at work was more than I ever expected.

Anybody who can dial a telephone can master tennis scoring in about 15 minutes.

You need to be real enough to be believable, but you don't necessarily have to be real enough to be real. There is a distinction.