“I find myself going to places where I really have no business, speaking to these people in a whole other field that I have no extensive knowledge of. But I do it very often because it scares me.”

I’ve been nominated twice before as actor in a leading part. Now I’m nominated as actor in a supporting part.

I’ve been lucky enough to live through all the things that are supposed to give meaning to our lives, like parenting, grandparenting, art, celebrity.

Loneliness is everything it’s cracked up to be.

If I don’t win, I’ll just wait until I’m nominated for being in the theater during the show. Do they have one like that?

I was brought up as a Catholic, and I’m no longer a Catholic.

Eventually, I found a radical way of thinking about listening. Real listening is a willingness to let the other person change you.

Working on The West Wing was similar in many ways to my experience on M*A*S*H, because you had people willing to work late at night to get it just right.

I’m not trying to create some impression about myself. That doesn’t interest me.

My relationship with science is as someone who’s curious and hungry to know, hungry to understand. So all I have to offer is my ignorance and my curiosity, which is a good combination, as long as they come together.

You wouldn’t want to be called a sell-out by selling a product.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.

Everybody’s on their toes and focused on what we’re about to do, and then there’s this moment where you relax because you see that everybody is there to do the best that they can.

I’ve never tried to manipulate my image.

Really top-notch directors, I’ve often worked with them just to see how they work.

Our lives depend on good communication. Good communication helps personal relationships, it helps bosses and employees get along better. We rely on it.

Don’t ever aim doubt at yourself. Laugh at yourself, but don’t doubt yourself.

Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.

I dare you to run to the edge of your limits – and then jump.

It is only too easy to catch people’s attention by doing something worse than anyone else has dared to do it before.

No matter your age, stage of life, or circumstances, don’t forget to dare to dream with God. You don’t have to figure anything out. Just keep saying yes to Him, in big ways and small, and watch what He does.

What an intimidating kind of beauty a rainbow holds. Then of course, there’s the jealously dripping between vampirish teeth of those who dare mock it.

Be daring enough to be different, humble enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burnt in the fire of love, real enough to make others see how phony you are.

it is no small comfort to me to know that God has called me to my work, putting me where I am and as I am. I have not sought the position, and I dare not leave it. He knows why He places me here-whether to do, or learn, or suffer.

Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.