Ralph Kramden, as played by Jackie Gleason, was this big bumbling New York City bus driver who was kind of mean and crass and a little bit egotistical. But underneath it all, he was a big heart looking for a place to land I think.

A country doesn't need a businessman to run it: it needs a heartful, worldly, compassionate leader.

I actually do believe in life after death.

Our first responsibility in all things is to preserve our goodness of heart - then and only then act.

An artist's job is to be interested in things as they are.

I'm a big lover of America. I love the people, but also the weird berms, the strange little high schools tucked away in different places, and just the whole geography and the psycho­logical apparatus of Americans.

Whatever your supposed politics are - left, right - if you put it in a human connection, most people will rise to the occasion and feel the human pain in a way that they might not if it was presented in a more conceptual way.