When people want to sound smart, they add syllables to words, words to sentences, sentences to paragraphs, paragraphs to books. They try to make up i….

Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brill….

We realize we can't go around saying and doing what we're actually thinking and feeling. If we all did that, life would be a lunatic asylum. Indeed, ….

The students realize that it's their life I'm talking about: it's out of balance, they're struggling to put it into balance. How are they going to do….

Story is morally neutral. It can express profound truth or propaganda. The two greatest political storytellers of the 20th Century were Winston Churc….

A fine work of art - music, dance, painting, story - has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place..

Ninety percent of what we create is not our best work..

We often put off doing something for as long as possible, then as we finally make the decision and step into the action, we're surprised by its relat….

No matter our talent, we all know in the midnight of our souls that 90 percent of what we do is less than our best..

Most of life's actions are within our reach, but decisions take willpower..

Oh, by the way, I tend to use a lot of profanities. I do that for a reason: I like it..

Secure writers don't sell first drafts. They patiently rewrite until the script is as director-ready, as actor-ready as possible. Unfinished work inv….

The Business story is designed to trigger the listener to take an effective action. If it doesn't, the story fails..

When talented people write badly, it's generally for one of two reasons: Either they're blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove of they're dr….

The principle of Creative Limitations calls for freedom within a circle of obstacles and restricted boundaries. Talent is like a muscle: without some….

Talent without craft is like fuel without an engine, it burns wildly but accomplishes nothing..

To connect to people at the deepest level, you need stories..

Stories build cultures by answering the big questions..

There is no screenplay-writing recipe that guarantees your cake will rise..

To get the truth, you want to get your own heart to pound while you write..

It seems to me that the civilized human being is a skeptic someone who believes nothing at face value..