My way of dealing with the world has always been to make fun of it and observe it but not take part in it.That's how I became a writer. But when you have kids, suddenly you have to be part of things. It leads almost to a breakdown because your whole defense mechanism is now really destructive.

Television is much more difficult because at every moment the network can force you to change things based on their belief about what would make it popular. You're in a constant debate with a gun at your head, and the gun is cancellation. So it's hard to win the arguments.

The thing that is incredibly helpful is that we screen the movies and we ask the audience if they like it or not and we ask a lot of questions and do testing on the movies. For comedies, at least, it's very helpful. If they're not laughing and they don't say that they loved it, then I have screwed up.

There's something honorable about holding out for love and not breaking up for the sake of the baby. I see people get divorced, and there is a part of me that thinks, I wonder how hard they tried?

Well, every movie is an experiment. And the only way you can grow at what you're doing is to take chances. You can't try to stick with what worked last time.

College is the reward for surviving high school. Most people have great fun stories from college and nightmare stories from high school.

I think that everything I do tends to root for the underdog.

I don't know if you can be a born-again virgin.

Eventually, the nerds and the geeks will have their day.

For me, until I know that the audience really gets what I'm trying to communicate I'm not done.

I always see other people as predecessors and admire them.

I love magazines and film critics, so I eat it up. I'm not one of those people who says 'I never read anything.' I generally read all of it.

I put on a big show when I write something I think is funny.

I still feel like a nerd.

I think a lot of Hollywood is in retreat right now trying to figure out how to make money and make the safest bets.

I wanted to see how funny I could be without making the choice that every 10 minutes something big and visual had to happen.

I'm making a movie about relationships, and I'm surrounded by guys scared of talking to girls.

I'm the guy who gets uncomfortable. That's why I was able to write 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin' and 'Knocked Up.' I believe in those guys.

If you look at who drives the box office numbers at these films, it's men.

It's so difficult to shock America these days.