In a certain way, we're always toggling back and forth between the absolute and the relative, if that makes sense.

I watched a documentary about the immigrant crisis around the world. And it does make me blush at all the times I've stood up on the stage and given your speech about the healing power of fiction.

Whether you're eighteen or sixty, in a certain way, whatever you know is valid.

It's so ironic that you often hear these right-wing people talking about the Constitution.

I have been married to my wife, Paula, for 25 years. We have wonderful kids. Things are - it's been a really rich life, so I started thinking, is there a way to get valence a little more into the stories, the idea that, yes, things can go wrong, but also they can go right.

Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.

When something really bad is going on in a culture, the average guy doesn't see it. He can't. He's average and is surrounded by and immersed in the cant and discourse of the status quo.