“Acting is a job of permission. Someone has to give you permission to do it. But I have started to be like, 'I only want to do things that I want to do,' and writing has afforded me the luxury.”

“Don't you think it would be great to do a bunch of Nicorette commercials? Just, like, me in the desert, kind of Marlboro Man-style, driving a fast car, pulling over, looking at the sunset. Dissolving in ecstasy. Can't you see it? Me blowing huge Nicorette bubbles.”

“Fame is something I think happens as a result of trying to do good work. If you're trying to be famous, your work usually suffers.”

“I always go to bed thinking I'm the luckiest guy in the world.”

“I can speak passable Mandarin. I will not be translating at the U.N. anytime soon.”

“I did Chekhov's 'Three Sisters' once. Two months in, I remember going, 'Human beings shouldn't be forced to do or watch this play every night.' It's so dark and so bottomless.”

“I think we need to tell stories that reflect our world.”

“I wear boots. I wear jeans and usually just sort of a beat-up T-shirt and a leather jacket. If I bring more leather jackets home, my wife will kill me.”

“I wish I owned stock in Nicorette. I love Nicorette. Best invention ever.”

“I'd love to be one of those guys who could be like, 'Yeah, it's really exhausting,' but the truth is I'm not method. I don't take roles home.”

“If I had to write long-form stuff with descriptions of rooms, it would be so boring for me. I like writing dialogue and jokes and situational stuff.”

“If I was roped into a seven-year TV contract I'd probably hang myself.”

“If there's a microphone and a couple of Pink tracks, I'll step up. 'Get the Party Started' is a great start to any karaoke.”

“I'm a big believer that the reception is not the endeavor. And what I enjoy about almost all my work is the endeavor, the doing of something.”

“It's like, once you've seen Tom Hanks win the Golden Globes, the Oscars, you've seen his wife, what kind of car he drives, when you watch his movies, you can't fully get really lost in them.”

“I've never been shocked by anything on television, except the news.”

“My grandfather used to write one sentence every day in his journal: 'I love Anne more than ever today.' I think that was his meditation - keeping him in his marriage, and also his appreciation for it. It was very touching.”

“The best way for guys to communicate is just don't talk to each other for nine hours. That's why I like long motorcycle rides. It's a great way for guys to socialize and not socialize.”

“There's a logic to dreams that doesn't necessarily follow linear narrative. You don't know why things happen, it's your subconscious pushing you, to give you information.”

“Unless you hit your television with a sledgehammer, you're not going to be able to be an individual.”

“When I was 13, I kind of got into the punk scene. I realized it was easier to wear a pair of combat boots and jeans and a beat-up T-shirt. I think of it as a uniform.”

“When was the last time you were super offended? I might be like, 'That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!' Or, 'It's not my thing,' or, 'It was a stupid joke.' But there's such a sensitivity now. Political correctness has become really insidious.”

“When you hear about people in the '50s getting married at 20, you're like, 'What were they thinking?' My grandparents were together for over 50 years.”

“Whenever I put on a colored thing, I feel like I'm in a costume. Like when I put on a gray shirt.”

“Whenever I've done anything where I feel like, 'Oh, it would be smart to do that,' it's always been a mistake. Whenever I do the 'Oh, it would be fun to do that,' it's always paid dividends.”

“You can get stuff done in New York that you can't in Los Angeles. If you wanted to get some milk and get your shoes repaired and drop something off at the dry cleaner, that's an all-day adventure in Los Angeles. In New York, you can bang that out in half an hour.”