American Quotes

I don't have to come up with a ha-ha belly laugh every day, but drawings with warmth and love or ones that put a lump in the throat. That's more important to me than a laugh.

I didn't always spell my name Bil. My parents named me Bill, but when I started drawing cartoons on the wall, they knocked the 'L' out of me.

They invented hugs to let people know you love them without saying anything.

Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.

A hug is like a boomerang - you get it back right away.

Higher income taxes are a razor guillotine poised to descend on the bare neck of prosperity.

Where were they when the Russians went down?

This is definitely the first curmudgeon, no doubt about it.

There's a picture of Christopher and the real Ken Titus and myself in my dressing room. He's a great guy, by the way. I just think the real Ken is just super. And he's so happy for his son's success.

People want to typecast you; it's human nature.

My strength as an actor is in the theater - I know that about myself. Some actors get onstage and vanish, but I'm much better there than I am on screen.

My objective was to have as varied a selection of roles as possible. It probably did hurt my career.

It was Christopher's brilliant concept that he did not want this to become like every other sitcom where you do one take, and the audience gets bored with seeing it ten times, you know, over and over again.

I've got to put my kids through school. And I like the security of working every day, which is what television is about.

I'll be honest with you: not a chance in this world. But you know, stranger things have happened.

I wanted to be Laurence Olivier, basically, to be a great classical actor, and also be able to do modern things.

I think so. I can't think of anything that requires more finesse than comedy, both from a verbal and visual point of view.

I look for characters who are emotionally driven.

I asked him a number of questions and I got some very interesting answers. Ken's heroes, according to Christopher, would be people like John Wayne, of course.

Being a late bloomer, I really didn't have any interest in children until my late 30s, but I'm so happy I didn't go through life without that experience.

As a dad, he thinks that his philosophy is morally correct. He has no conscience whatsoever about letting his kids put a penny in a light socket to find out electricity is not so good for you, and if you want to learn how to swim, you have to be thrown into the deep end.

Actors make choices for different reasons.

When a writer talks about his work, he's talking about a love affair.

One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper, in time and in others' minds.

If we practiced medicine like we practice education, we'd look for the liver on the right side and left side in alternate years.

I'm used to very low-budget situations. In 'The Exploding Girl,' we were literally changing in Starbucks because we didn't have trailers.

I'm klutzy, and I don't embarrass easily.

I took a writing class in college, liked it, and my first year out of school I couldn't get a job, so I wrote a play.

I think movies have much more magic than the theater. Theater can be a magical experience, but movies thrust their subjectivity on you in a more profound way.

I think most actors jump at the chance to do something where the camera's on them all the time.