I spoke so much about being a manic-depressive. I want to bring everyone back to my earliest memories of this companion of mine. Some people call this companion I have an ailment, or worse a terrible nightmare from which some people cannot awaken. I know that I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have nothing that should garner a stigma.
John Kennedy really did extend the reach of the American people and said, like Lincoln said in a way, that our reach is farther than our grasp - and we should aim high.
Happiness has a bad rap. People say it shouldn't be your goal in life. Oh, yes it should.
We didn't get along, me and Bill Murray. But I've got to give it to him: I don't like him, but he makes me laugh even now. I'm also jealous that he's a better golfer than I am.
I have withdrawn from partisan politics. I am a constitutionalist who believes that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights must be central and the parties must be peripheral.
You've got to protect the system of secular faith in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and Enlightenment values. That way, you can protect all religions.
It is an obvious and blatant stupidity beyond my ability to articulate how dumb it is for us not to teach our children how to run the government.
It must be remembered that the Bush White House has a separate talent for character assassination that must not be confused with a talent for governance.
I knew I was a manic depressive when I was 13 or 14, and I loved it. I always told people what I had, and I was always cresting on a manic wave. I used it, willingly and happily, and it was an extraordinary experience. When I got hit with the depressive side - Boom! - yes, it was horrible and unendurable, but that's part of the story.
I lived by the motto, 'If you don't flirt, you die.' And flirt I did. I flirted with all women, be they actresses, producers, or 80-year-old grandmothers. I even flirted with those who were out of bounds, like the wives of some of my best friends, which especially revolts me.
I don't know what its like for most actors, but really clearly for myself acting has always been the fulfilment of personal fantasies. It isn't just art, its about being a person I've always wanted to be, or being in a situation, or being a hero.
'Jaws,' first time I saw it, I forgot I was in it. True. Totally forgot, and got as scared as everybody else, and it's a great movie.
In a way, J.F.K. was the high point of the American dream. In order to go to the moon and back, all we did was say we could - and we did.
I took the part in 'Mr. Holland's Opus' because no one had ever asked me to play 'a life' before. I get to age through 30 years. The idea really challenged me.
Television is hypnotic, and it hides among the furniture of your living room. It doesn't reveal itself, but it distorts everything.
Civility is not not saying negative or harsh things. It is not the absence of critical analysis. It is the manner in which we are sharing this territorial freedom of political discussion. If our discourse is yelled and screamed and interrupted and patronized, that's uncivil.
'Jaws' has turned into one of those films that when you see it on TV, you turn it on, and you can't turn it off. So, in that regard, I've seen it a million times. It's the only film I'm aware of that could be released now for the first time and have the same impact that it did then. You can't say that about a lot of movies.
I decided at age 9, but I was reinforced at age 13 when a teacher told me I had talent. I can't say she really motivated me because I already knew. I knew I had talent. I went to the Jewish community theater and got in plays there. Then I went for the movies.'
Civics is not only how to run the country before it's your turn to run the country; it is, in fact, the study of power, practical political power. And you must start that process at an age level when kids' brains are still open and malleable.
I love the ideals of my country. But I hate that we've been so denied any real knowledge of the world and don't have the education to think clearly, so we vote against our economic interest and believe in our most shallow first thoughts of fear and hatred.
