When I write a political column for the Chicago Sun-Times, when liberals disagree with me, they send in long, logical e-mails explaining all my errors. I hardly ever get well-reasoned articles from the right. People just tell me to shut up. That's the message: "Shut up. Don't write anymore about this. Who do you think you are?"

It's easier to identify with loss than love, because we have had so much more experience of it.

You can't just tell actors, especially young ones, to 'act happy' and expect them to do it. They must in some essential way be happy.

Because of the rush of human knowledge, because of the digital revolution, I have a voice, and I do not need to scream.

Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us into better people.

We are poor mortals, but it dreams to us that we can fly.

One, don't wait for inspiration, just start the damned thing. Two, once you begin, keep on until the end. How do you know how the story should begin until you find out where it's going?