Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.
I will come out with my interpretation. If I'm wrong, fine. It will become part of the debris of history, part of the give and take.
Permanent superiority has never been realized by any nation in history. After the rise comes the fall.
It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.
Often the presence of mind and energy of a person remote from the spotlight decide the course of history for centuries to come.
I like crafts that come out of poverty or necessity. There used to be hobby shops where you'd get your supplies, and then you'd use your imagination.
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
In 2012, I see the potential for people to come together, huge moments of political and social engagement where elections are part of the strategy for change, but not the end goal and not the only thing that matters.
You hate to see yourself do one draft of a script and then have somebody else come back in and change what you've done.
Ford used to come to work in a big car with two Admiral's flags, on each side of the car. His assistant would be there with his accordion, playing, Hail to the Chief.
Museums are like the quiet car of the world. It's a place you can come to escape, where there's authenticity, there's uniqueness, there's calm, there's physicality.
Christmas morning, I'm going to open presents with my kids. I'm going to take pictures of them opening the presents. Then I'm going to come to the Staples Center and get ready to work.
Our children await Christmas presents like politicians getting in election returns: there's the Uncle Fred precinct and the Aunt Ruth district still to come in.
At Christmas, 'It's a Wonderful Life' makes me cry in exactly the same places every time, even though I know it's coming.
I didn't know the full dimensions of forever, but I knew it was longer than waiting for Christmas to come.
That is where the irony of the film comes off, in terms of the language it employs - where he tries desperately to be a 'TV Dad,' to give advice and it's so pat it becomes ridiculous.
People come up to me all the time who saw Dad in 'Oklahoma!' or 'Pajama Game,' and they say they'll never forget it.
The greatest benefit of depression is the fact that when I have talked about it, every so often someone comes up and says, 'You saved my dad's life.'
When death, the great reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity.
If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.
It's not like I don't have my own wants and dreams anymore - it's just that the kids come first. It's primal.
