Young people can get very discouraged and get hooked on drugs or on alcohol because of problems they perceive as insurmountable. It is important that they realize a mistake need not ruin their future but they must also know that not everything in life is a bed of roses.

Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible.

The perennial conviction that those who work hard and play by the rules will be rewarded with a more comfortable present and a stronger future for their children faces assault from just about every direction. That great enemy of democratic capitalism economic inequality is real and growing.

When the people become involved in their government government becomes more accountable and our society is stronger more compassionate and better prepared for the challenges of the future.

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.

I think one of the basic tasks in life - one of the nice things we can do for each other - is to take things that are horrible and scary and make them acceptable and less frightening and if possible funny. It feels great to succeed at that.

With Portlandia I don't think our intention is always to find something funny. Sometimes the humor comes from taking something really seriously. We're okay with making somebody feel uncomfortable or uneasy.

I love nerds. Comic-Con junkies are the tastemakers of tomorrow. Isn't that funny? The tables have turned.

It's harder to be funny if you're handsome than if you're very normal-looking. It's just more relatable. You're the underdog. I mean it's funny to see people struggle and you don't buy that Brad Pitt is struggling you know that guy could be the most skill-less guy in the world but if you look like that you will be fine for the rest of your life.

It's funny because I'm a sucker for glitz and glitter when it comes to clothes and nail polish but with my makeup I'm more comfortable with a natural look. It feels more like me.

I'm not funny. People assume that because my books are funny I'll be funny in real life. It's the inevitable disappointment of meeting me.

It's a funny thing: You want so badly for people to see what you do - you're proud of it - and I like the effect that movies have on people. But the attention can also make me uncomfortable.

Books are funny little portable pieces of thought.

Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object.

A lot of the powerful religious leaders from Jesus to Buddha to Tibetan monks they're really talking about the same things: love and acceptable and the value of friendship and respecting yourself so you can respect others.

No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere whether it is holding out a hand of friendship or making clear that you disapprove of something is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being so the goal is to always establish common ground.

It is not natural or inevitable that half the world goes hungry that the freedom of markets trumps protection of the planet or that citizens' rights come second to those of corporations.

The arc of American history almost inevitably moves toward freedom. Whether it's Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation the expansion of women's rights or now gay rights I think there is an almost-inevitable march toward greater civil liberties.

Every general increase of freedom is accompanied by some degeneracy attributable to the same causes as the freedom.

Now do I think there has to be shared sacrifice among other nations in the world who want a stable and secure world? Absolutely there has to be. But I don't think that America can ever abdicate its leadership role in the world because of who we are and where we've come from. We are the symbol for the world for freedom and liberty.

Those who write the editorials and those who write the columns they simply are unaccountable. They're free to impose their cultural politics in the name of freedom of the press.

Our forefathers got it they got it man. They took godly principles and they put them into action and they developed our Constitution - the land of freedom where each man is accountable and responsible for his actions.

I felt extremely uncomfortable as the focal point in the spotlight. I really like the behind the scenes role because all my freedom is there.

For me forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?