I wanted when we began this to have a conversation, the kind that you're able to have, and the only way I knew how to do it was not to have a pre-interview.

I may be writing well, I may be writing poorly, but I enjoy the act of writing and sometimes when it turns out okay, I feel an elation that is incomparable.

The definition of genius, really, should be that that person can do what the rest of us have to learn how to do.

When you're talking about the thing that is most important to someone, they're liable to feel something strong.

The difference - the fundamental difference between theater acting and film acting is that film acting is disjunctive.

The Pivot Questionnaire that I ask other people, when I have on rare occasion answered it, the answer to the question, "What turns you on?" Is words. Not mine, other people's. Words, words, words, that's what turns me on.

Our language, one of our most precious natural resources, deserves at least as much protection as our woodlands, streams and whooping cranes.