He couldn`t have been more different from Archie Bunker. He cared about the little guy. He shone a light on bigotry and ignorance and hope. Arguably, he created the single most indelible character in the history of American television. - on his "All in the Family" (1971) co-star Carroll O`Connor

I like writing because you can make things happen and turn out the way they never do in real life.

We agreed that we cannot let personal political attacks get in the way of doing the very best we can for California`s children.

Everybody talks about wanting to change things and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself. And that`s a lot. Because if you can fix yourself, it has a ripple effect.

People can be ignorant and still have loving, human qualities.

On producing The Bucket List (2007): This is kind of a little minefield here. You want to get the tone right for it. This is a subject that you have to deal with comically. It`s still got to be funny. You want sentiment, not sentimentality. These are all the sidewalls you want to not fracture the picture on. Not that I don`t like an easy job.

On why his career skidded in the late 1990s when he split his time between movies and politics: People kept asking me, `How do you balance it?,` and the point is, you don`t. I know now, about me: I can`t split my attention in that way. It doesn`t work. I mean, it shows, to be honest with you. You can`t do both.

Something is wrong here, and it`s more than easy access to guns or violence on TV. It`s about lack of love and attachment to loving people early in life.

Every single person in jail for a violent crime had a nightmare childhood.

I think Jews are the smartest people in the world.

It`s a very slow process - two steps forward, one step back - but I`m inching in the right direction.

2007: I like to think of myself as a very young old person. But you start thinking, `How many years am I going to have to be productive?` Especially in our business, youth is so stressed. You start thinking, `How many more movies am I going to get to make?` Maybe, if I`m lucky, I`ll make five more.

I know how sobering and exhausting parenthood is. But the reality is that our children`s future depends on us as parents. Because we know that the first years truly last forever.