I've always wanted to work with Blair, and finally the timing was right. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I think he's a hugely underrated actor in Hollywood.

There's a huge demand for my entertainment, and I can't meet the need. So I decided to try a TV show to reach as many of my fans as possible.

I've always wanted to work with Blair, and finally the timing was right. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I think he's a hugely underrated actor in Hollywood.

'Madea' is a Southern term. It's short for 'mother dear.' So there are a lot of Madeas out there.

After Obama became president, I realized that black people could not have put him in the White House - it had to be a collective effort of everybody in the country.

All my life I've tried to hide my height. I was taller than everybody else and stood out, so I would slouch and try to hide it.

As I experience life and go through things, that's what I write about.

Being on the 'Alex Cross' set, and watching and learning about and paying attention to everything that was going on there, I realized, 'Here is a moment for me to learn.'

Children love their mothers. Especially with a boy child and his mother, there's a bond that's unbreakable.

Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you're a janitor or taking your first summer job, because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.

Did you know you can't say 'Jesus' in a sitcom? They told me that, and I was like, You gotta be kiddin' me. If you don't want my God here, you don't want me here either.

Don't believe the hype. I don't care how many number ones you have at the box office, I don't care how much they say you're great, don't believe it. Just stay in your lane and do what you're supposed to do.

Ever since I've been blessed with success, I've struggled a little with anonymity and even family. I've had people calling asking for money, and I have to ask them first, 'Are you working? Have you been trying to help yourself?' Then I feel like I can help.

Everyone can relate to love, hurt, pain, learning how to forgive, needing to get over, needing the power of God in their life.

For me, there is a guiding compass that just lives inside of me. Every time I've gone against it, something bad has happened. As long as I stay in line and honor it, it has really been life changing.

Forgiveness is important in families, especially when there are so many secrets that need to be healed - for the most part, every family's got them.

Happiness for me is totally just being at peace knowing that, everything I'm doing, God is pleased with that. It's complete peace for me.

Having my son has changed so much of what I dream about. It used to be about business, business, what's the next deal? What's the next movie? Now it's about him.

He who has the gold makes the rules.

Hollywood is finally waking up to the fact that people who go to church also go to the movies. I'm not sure what took them so long to see that or how long they'll keep it up.

I am an architect at heart. I designed every home I've ever had, plus my studio.

I definitely do not like Halloween. I don't like masks, creepy clowns, dark things, goblins or witches. They're not just my thing.

I didn't have a catharsis for my childhood pain, most of us don't, and until I learned how to forgive those people and let it go, I was unhappy.

I didn't want to be the kind of man that my father was. So I've tried, my entire life, to be the complete and utter opposite of that. And it has served not only the art well, but I think the audience well.

I don't do divas. I don't do entourages. I don't do the Hollywood crap.

I don't have a writer's room. I write all the shows myself. Ninety-one episodes a season, I'm sitting there at the computer writing and writing and writing because I want the voice to be authentic so that the audience is hearing from me and not other writers.

I don't know about marriage as much as I do know that I'd be a great father.

I don't think the dreams die - I think that people give up. I think it gets too hard.

I don't want to leave this planet until I achieve everything that I was put here to do.

I feel like I died as a child.

I get a lot of flack from critics that my comedies are all over the place, my dramas are all over the place, they're schizophrenic - as if I don't know that!

I had one request when I started doing the plays. My prayer was, 'God, let me do well enough to be able to take care of my mother.' I was able to do that 'til the day she died because of my audience.

I have a fear of tubes and tunnels. Going through any tunnel causes me great anxiety.

I haven't read a book in a very, very long time because, when I'm writing, I don't like to see other people's work. I don't want to see something great and not be able to use it, and I don't want to have any subconscious influences.

I knew that love was around. I truly believe my mother loved me. But feeling it all the time? I didn't.

I know my audience, and they're not people that the studios know anything about.

I know that there are a lot of people out there with stories far worse than mine but you, too, can make it. To those of you who have, welcome to life. I celebrate you.

I look at the stories that Spike Lee tells... Great stories. Great director, great storyteller.

I love a good breakfast - grits and eggs, French toast, turkey bacon. My grandmother on my father's side used to make tea cakes, and her breakfasts were unbelievable. There was fresh ham, and she would go out to the yard to get fresh eggs. She lived in rural Louisiana, and we'd spend summers with her.

I love to give. I've been a giver all my life.

I love to see a woman in high-heeled shoes. There's something about the curve of the feet up the leg to the butt that's really, really wonderful, and the right pair of shoes can give you the right silhouette.

I remember being a kid and praying in the hell of my house to have somebody love me and somebody that I could love.

I thank God I didn't become successful until I was older.

I think every one of us, in life, have some sort of moment that has happened that we wish we could have done differently or that we wish could have had a different outcome.

I think it's important to show a husband and a wife together, in a room, raising children, because you don't see that anymore.

I think that with everything I've done, in the end, whoever the central character is, they would find a way to forgive, because that's really important to me.

I think there's something that happens at 40 where you settle into your own skin and you stop caring what people think - you realize life is a gift from God and you want to live it to the fullest.

I try to write from a point of view with my faith being always present and always there. don't want to write characters where everyone is saved. So this Madea character for me is not saved.

I want a lot of people to see my movies. More black people. More white people. I want to make that connection.