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.

Having an affair with an intern is just an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Whatever you do, make sure you want to write more than you want to be a writer. Make sure you want to act more than you want to be an actor. That is what will sustain you.

I did not always agree, personally, on the positions that Bartlet, character from the West Wing, took and I argued against them on many occasions. But Aaron Sorkin said, "Martin, that's you, that's not Barlet. It's a very political decision he has to make." I found from the very beginning that when I infused my own personal feelings about an issue it went against the grain of the character.

Only two things ever stop the government from doing anything: money and politics

We all go through life bristling at our external limitations, but the most difficult chains to break are inside us.

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.