Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
America is a country of excess.
Life is about having a good time.
When something is over, it is over.
In this nation, leadership is dollars.
Success is how you collect your minutes.
Power is the goal of religion in general.
I was the laziest white kid my dad ever met.
My dad called me meat head dead from the neck up.
In my 90-plus years, I have lived a multitude of lives.
I wanted to meet Bob Hope, and I got to know him pretty well.
Originally, with all the shows, we went looking for belly laughs.
If there is a reason to believe in God, it would be the Havana Leaf.
Archie Bunker used to call me 'the laziest white kid he'd ever met.'
So we gravitated to shows and issues and causes that made people care.
I never met who I really wanted to meet, and that was Charlie Chaplin.
Nobody doubts my partisanship, but a lot of the activity is nonpartisan.
The trafficking of sex and violence is comes after the demand for ratings.
Even when they don't know who Nixon was, these shows will continue to play.
We just may be the most well-informed, yet least self-aware, people in history.
I think Americans have become a - much more a nation of consumers than citizens.
When we went on the air, I didn't want to be interrupted for an act-one curtain.
The American people may not be the best-educated, but they're very wise at heart.
You're in the business - when you're a writer, producer, director - to get ratings.
I think the greater responsibility, in terms of morality, is where leadership begins.
I wanted to work with Bert Lahr [the 'Cowardly Lion' in 'The Wizard of Oz'], and I did.
Next up [new TV stars] was [Dean] Martin and [Jerry] Lewis on 'The Colgate Comedy Hour.'
Culturally, I think 'All in the Family' was universal enough to have good timing at any time.
Bud [Yorkin] was the kindest and dearest man, and one of the most talented directors there was.
I don't know how you can look back with regret if you're at a moment when everything seems fine.
There was no real controversy with All In The Family. That came from the people on the business end.
I think if you're feeling great about where you are, everything that led up to it had to be terrific.
I like getting up in the morning, and I like better having something to do when I get up in the morning.
We are a country of excess. So it's not the violence, per se, but the exacerbation and constant repetition.
I think what's dangerous is 24 hours a day, 335 channels, or whatever the hell there is. Too much is too much.
The movies had a slogan at the time, to distinguish themselves from TV, that said 'movies are better than ever.'
TV that people will never see, that giant international corporations will never touch, will never pay your salary.
I was writing for live television. And I said to myself, someday, soon as I can, I have got to do a situation comedy.
Ratings translate into corporations, corporations that need a profit statement this quarter that's larger than the last.
I think somehow I got a sense of the foolishness of the human - my favorite phrase, the foolishness of the human condition.
We all [Ed Simmons,Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis] started together, so there were no rules - anything we wrote became television.
Maybe they continued to agree with Archie Bunker - as I said earlier, you can't change people's minds, but you can get them to think.
I started by writing, with my partner Ed Simmons, a monologue for Danny Thomas, that he performed at Ciro's nightclub in Los Angeles.
Life is about having a good time, and it was a good time. We did some things well and some things poorly, but that was always the case.
I stop and look at traffic accidents. I won't hang around, but when I hear something is terrible, as bad as it is, I've gotta look at it.
You know, you throw rocks in the lake and scientists will tell you you're raising the level of the lake, but all you get to see is the ripple.
I got a call from an agent to come to New York City, and write for the 'Ford Star Revue.' Because at the time there wasn't much 'national television'.
When I countered that Archie Bunker didn't have to put down a race of people to say that, he replied, 'and you're the dumbest white kid I've ever met.'
The complete control of one party over everything - I would, I think, feel the same way if it were [the Democrats in charge]. It's not the American way.
Life goes on pretty much the same way. I've been working on a couple of films on the side. You may see some more. You may even see another television show.
I think America, unfortunately, collectively thinks of itself as the 'chosen people.' To my knowledge, there are no chosen people, we are all human beings.