The payment for sins can be delayed. But they can't be avoided.

The payment for sins can be delayed. But they can't be avoided.

Everyone in Hollywood who is successful becomes less successful at some point. I'm just trying to delay that fall for as long as I can.

I don't ever want to have a weak episode of television with my name on it.

I don't want my writing to be recognized.

I don't want my writing to be so unique that when you apply it to different genres, it seems like the previous show that people know you from.

I have no problem at all going back and forth between cable and network.

I still feel driven to try to make great shows and to make each episode great.

I think the bar is higher these days in terms of audience expectations of authenticity.

I was never that kid who grew up in New York and was always at the arthouse watching important films. I was the kid who grew up in the Midwest where there weren't any art films, and I watched TV. And that was really the medium that affected me and that I fell in love with.

I would say on a creative level I put a lot of pressure on myself.

I'm perfectly happy to color within the network lines when I have to.

I'm very humble in terms of knowing that television is an extraordinary collaborative medium and that one person alone cannot make a great TV show.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what the audience would want. That's my job, is to anticipate ahead of the audience.

I've worked in network and cable on and off for a number of years, and you just understand what your parameters are. A lot of times, I think the best work that my team has come up with comes from having to deal with certain boundaries.

In order to appeal to a wider audience on network in order to survive, generally your characters need to be, at a base level, a little bit more likable.

One of the tricky things about running a TV show is that you just never know how good the guest stars you cast on a weekly basis, how good they're going to be in the episode. Sometimes they surprise you in good ways and sometimes they surprise you in disappointing ways.

Series finales have that responsibility to leave you feeling good about entire series. You want to feel like the viewer closes the book satisfied. And if you strike out on the finale it skews how you feel about the entire series.

TV is just such a fast-moving medium that you do what you can do, and what you can't do, you don't worry about too much.

The payment for certain sins can be delayed. But they can't be avoided.

There are certain economics involved in making a network TV show that you want to amortize the costs of that, so the more episodes you make, the cheaper they all are individually.

There will always be economic pressure to make hits, identify hits, and then exploit hits. And you're going to exploit them with as many episodes as you probably can.

To this day, nothing makes me happier than finding a TV show I really love.

Working as a showrunner has made it tougher to watch other shows and movies.

You can make a good show, but you still need some magical alchemy to get people to watch.

People will walk in and walk out of your life but the one whose footstep made a long lasting impression is the one you should never allow to walk out.

My father was never around. It was almost as if he didn't exist. I would tell my friends he was in Cleveland, on business. Sometimes, every six months or so, he would come by for dinner.

In indies, life is very dark and realistic, and in mainstream films, the edges are all rounded off and very sentimentalized.

April weather, rain and sunshine both together.

You increase muscle bulk by training against resistance. For example, weights. And in ballet, this isn't the case.

Our siblings. They resemble us just enough to make all their differences confusing, and no matter what we choose to make of this, we are cast in relation to them our whole lives long.

If you are an idealist, it does not matter what you do or what goes on around you because it isn't real anyway.

Never lose the childlike wonder. Show gratitude... Don't complain; just work harder... Never give up.

I can eat Chipotle all day long for years.

I've spent a lot of time being bohemian and sleeping on floors, but eventually I want to have kids and I want to bring them up in a secure environment.

Free enterprise has done more to lift people out of poverty, to help build a strong middle class, to help educate our kids, and to make our lives better than all the programs of government combined.

Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.

Upon arriving, meeting their teachers and signing up for classes, these students began to realize that their attendance at Delaware State University was not a goal achieved, but rather a dream being sewn - a first step, if you will.

To me, it seems like both 'Brief Interviews' and 'The Office' deal with characters that see themselves differently than the world sees them.

As a child, I didn't know what I didn't have. I'm thankful for the challenges early on in my life because now I have a perspective on the world and kind of know what's important.

Good scripts are hard to find.

I feel like I am in the service of the poem. The poem isn't something I make. The poem is something I serve.

I wouldn't change one thing about my professional life, and I make it a point not to dwell on my mistakes.

I love seeing new places and meeting new people. I'm sort of addicted to traveling.

I usually submit a novel at a certain number of words, and when I've finished working with my editor, the novel is longer than when I submitted it. I need my editor to help me open up the story.

I think New York is truly unique in its singular combination of the quality of both the talent it attracts and the ingredients it grows. There are plenty of other places in the world with wonderful natural resources, but the people who come here to pursue their passions for food and cooking - they are one of a kind.

Japan is the most intoxicating place for me. In Kyoto, there's an inn called the Tawaraya which is quite extraordinary. The Japanese culture fascinates me: the food, the dress, the manners and the traditions. It's the travel experience that has moved me the most.

Not many people realize this, but I'm a really squeamish guy. When I watch other horror films that are really over-the-top with their blood and guts, I cannot watch it.

You are cruising along, and then technology changes. You have to adapt.