In spite of everything, screenwriting is better than threading pipe.

[advice to Gore Vidal] If you want all the prizes, you gotta write shrill.

[on Network (1976)] Television is democracy at its ugliest - give the people what they want. My rage isn't against television; it's against the dehumanization of people. People say to me, 'Jesus, you moved into some pretty surreal stuff', and I say 'No, I still write realistic stuff. It's the world that's turned into a satire.' Show less «

[on Vanessa Redgrave's anti-Zionistic tirade at the 1978 Oscars] I would like to say - personal opinion of course - that I'm sick and tired of people exploiting the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own propaganda. I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning the Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation, and a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. Show less «