“I’m a playwright. All I care about is the play being good.”

I consider plot a necessary intrusion on what I really want to do, which is write snappy dialogue. But when I’m writing, the way the words sound is as important to me as what they mean.

If I get an idea for a series that I really like, I’m sure I won’t be able to resist coming back and doing it.

I have a lot of respect for people who are great at ad-libbing, and for writers and directors who are able to create a scene in which that works.

Just to clarify the division of labor on the show, I write the show and Alan [Poul] does everything else.

Conflict, when used as a device, makes for good television and bad journalism.

There are no Asian movie stars

The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one – America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

Never argue with a drunk or a fool.

Roxy Sorkin, your father just won the Academy Award. I’m going to have to insist on some respect from your guinea pig.

My resting pulse as a writer is writing idealistically and romantically; aspirationally. My taste lies in quixotic heroes.

Decisions are made by those who show up. Don’t ever forget that you’re a citizen of this world.

Decisions are made by those who show up. Don’t ever forget that you’re a citizen of this world.

With a television series, there’s a hard deadline, and so you have to write even when you’re not writing well.

I’ll get cast occasionally as sort of the jerk version of myself, and I have fun doing that. But it’s really better for everyone if I stay behind the camera.

I’ve never met anyone who has said, “My goal is to make America mediocre.” That’s a kind of hard-right conservative fallacy.

A news organization has a much different responsibility. I might not be telling you the whole story. I might not be telling you a story in a manner that is properly sophisticated.

Without losers, where would the winners be?

Don’t be a spectator, don’t let life pass you by.

Golf really is the best microcosm of life – or at least the way life should be.

One may be humble out of pride.

A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can.

It’s nice to finally be my own person.

How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.

Somebody has to do something, and it’s just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.