In Tanzania, the chimps are isolated in a very tiny patch of forest. I flew over it 13 years ago and realized that, basically, all the trees had gone, that people all around the park are struggling to survive. It became very clear that there was no w...
Hazel has to realize that her mom was wrong when she said, “I won’t be a mother anymore.” The truth is, after Hazel dies (assuming she dies), her mom will still be her mom, just as my grandmother is still my grandmother even though she has died...
Moon is a shining ball, from the window on my wall. Moon is blemish-laden, from the terrace of my mansion. Moon is a cold flame, from the porthole of my airplane. Yet I have heard, Moon is muse to philosophy brothers, Moon is nurse to romantic lovers...
I’ve said for years — ever since I figured out how to write Goblin Hero — that it’s important to give yourself permission to write crap. Perfection is the destroyer of art. It’s paralyzing. Art, whether it’s writing or painting or anythin...
There's a very passionate pro-chewing movement on the Internet called Chewdiasm. They say that we should be chewing 50 to 100 times per mouthful, which is insane. I tried that. It takes like a day and a half to eat a sandwich. But their basic idea is...
In general President Obama's policies have been very, very skewed and very, very extreme. Like on healthcare for example, I don't think that trying to ram healthcare through was a smart idea politically, because he wasted a lot of capital and now he ...
My father was a world-class scientist and my mother was a prolific painter. I could see that my parents had completely different ways of knowing and understanding the world, and relating to it. My father approached things through scientific inquiry a...
What podcasts can do in order to liven up the talk show area of TV is bring new personalities and unique worldviews into the fray in a way that's not going to be filtered through the whole Q-rating thing. I think there's a whole new layer of doing th...
Writing the poems, I came to think that regarding is a form of love, but the regarding is not necessarily accurate. In the poems, people are always misperceiving one another. But misperceptions are a part of being alive to others. You don’t need tr...
Young screenwriters are always very frustrated when they talk to me. They say, 'How do we get to be a screenwriter?' I say, 'You know what you do? I'll tell you the secret, it's easy: Read 'Hamlet.' You know? Then read it again, and read it again, an...
Ben Hood: Well, that's the whole point of the holidays, Paul. So you and your sister can mope around the house, and your mother and I can wait on your hand and foot, while the two of you occasionally grunt for more food from behind the hair in your f...
Mrs. Marcus: Sylvester! Sylvester Marcus: Mama! Mrs. Marcus: Why couldn't you listen? Why couldn't you shut up when I was trying to tell you to listen? J. Algernon Hawthorne: Have a care, that chap's run absolutely amok!
Ray: [after hitting Pike unconscious with a pop bottle] Holy mackerel. When he started... Listen, we better get him tied up. What are we gonna do when he comes to? Irwin: Hit him again. Ray: Oh I couldn't!
Rollo: So what's the prognosis, Fertile Myrtle? Minus or plus? Juno MacGuff: I don't know. It's not seasoned yet. [grabs products] Juno MacGuff: I'll take some of these. Nope... There it is. The little pink plus sign is so unholy. [shakes pregnancy t...
Juno MacGuff: ...and the receptianist tried to get me to take these condoms that looked like grape suckers and was just babbling away about her freaking boyfiends pie balls! Oh an Su-Chin was there and she was like, "Hi babies have fingernails." Fing...
John Hammond: [Ellie is going out to the maintenance shed to switch the circuit breakers, the dinosaurs are on the loose] It ought to be me really going. Dr. Ellie Sattler: Why? John Hammond: Well, I'm a... And you're, um, a... Dr. Ellie Sattler: Loo...
Donald Gennaro: Let's get something straight, John, this is not a weekend excursion, this is a serious investigation of the stability of the island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. And 48 hours from now, if they're not convinc...
Amon Goeth: One of you is a very lucky girl. There is an opening for a job away from all this back-breaking work, in my new villa. Umm, which of you has domestic experience? Ja, on second thought, I don't really want someone else's maid. All those an...
Hannibal Lecter: Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling? [sarcastically] Hannibal Lecter: Enthrall me with your acumen. Clarice Starling: It excites him. Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims. Hannibal Lec...
Clarice Starling: Did you do all these drawings, Doctor? Hannibal Lecter: Ah. That is the Duomo seen from the Belvedere. Do you know Florence? Clarice Starling: All that detail just from memory, sir? Hannibal Lecter: Memory, Agent Starling, is what I...
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Crawford is very clever, isn't he, using you? Clarice Starling: What do you mean, sir? Dr. Frederick Chilton: A pretty young woman to turn him on. I don't believe Lecter's even seen a woman in eight years. And oh, are you ever ...
