Born on January 3rd

"In the field of motivation & action, do not wait for a clear sky; the most resilient journeys begin in the midst of the storm."

"Success is not a destination of comfort, but the daily practice of stepping into the unknown. As a poet & novelist, this is the foundational truth I have observed."

"Your potential is a fire waiting to be kindled by the friction of consistent effort."

"I love '30 Rock.' It's one of my favorite shows. It's certainly the gold standard of comedy writing."

"There's a fine line between a stream of consciousness and a babbling brook to nowhere."

"I care very much what the fans think. I'm starting to loosen my grip on caring about what critics say, because I think that critics care about what fans think of them, too, so there's a little bit of a refraction there, through that glass."

"There's the same percentage of genius happening in both genders, but there's less women writing scripts and out there looking for the job."

"Class clowns are never allowed to date anybody decent, but you don't get beaten up, you're invited to parties, and everybody likes you."

"My passion for 'Star Trek' is actually rooted in my love of television and the art of franchise and a premise designed to stick people together that have to figure out what to do."

"Eight o'clock is hard no matter what network you're on because people have to make a decision to sit down and start watching TV. Every other time slot is a time slot that happens after someone's watching something else."

"I think that casting is probably the most important thing in television production."

"I am a collaborator with everyone who agrees that I need to be in control. I happily collaborate with my loyalists."

"I wish that television would stop selling our hatred of ourselves, and start seducing us with our love of ourselves."

"Emotionally, shows like 'Cheers' and 'Taxi' were classic sitcoms when I was growing up."

"When you watch the sitcoms that were the big hits when I was growing up, TV was still just TV. It was allowed to just be TV. There were three channels that were competing for the whole family and you couldn't take your business elsewhere."

"I don't think it's going to be possible for the next generation of writers to tell stories without telling stories about telling stories."

"People often ask me about what constitutes a nerd-friendly show - like, does it have to have sci-fi elements? But I think it's just a show that satisfies the secret craving we all have to be obsessed with something and not feel at all stupid about it."

"I don't really have a lot of appropriate feelings for people on an individual basis, but I've always wanted to make people happy."

"I really like performing for people."

"I feel like my life has always been the 'Hey Look at Me Show.' I'm not apologetic about that."

"I feel like I am a good person and a professional, very able leader of men."

"Television is a populous, derivative, democratic medium."

"Everyone knows that there are more people watching any given show than is being registered by the Nielsen system."

"I was raised on NBC television."

"When I was a kid I never knew the difference between a sitcom and a drama. I just knew what my parents were watching and what was making them happy."

"The public's perception of your show is what it is, and you don't get to complain how people perceive your show or talk about it."

"Maybe I am just a jerk."

"I am absolutely and inherently self-destructive in that I am always making sure I'm doing what I want to do."

"If your ratings are high and there's money being made, you're allowed to be a perfectionist in television."

"TV in all its ugliness can be a beautiful thing."