Will we allow the decline of our language-the language of Shakespeare, Shaw and Steinbeck? Will we abuse our precious gift of communication? Will we bite our mother tongue with the teeth of indifference, crushing the taste buds of clarity and, without prompt application of the antiseptic of education, causing the gangrene of strained metaphors? Stand up, America, and let me hear your answer: Ain't no way, dude!

Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth.

There’s nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you’re meant to do. It’s like falling in love.

Jewish introspection and Jewish humor is a way of surviving . . . if you're not handsome and you're not athletic and you're not rich, there's still one last hope with girls, which is being funny.

The only safe thing is to take a chance. Play safe and you are dead. Taking risks is the essence of good work, and the difference between safe and bold can only be defined by yourself since no one else knows for what you are hoping when you embark on anything.

I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That’s the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.

There's nothing in the American dream about character. It's a serious flaw.