Quotes from Alan Ball

Racism is ridiculous no matter where it's coming from.

I know a lot of shows are like, 'Here's the pages,' right before they start filming. I'd have a heart attack. The anxiety would be way too much for me. I don't have as strong a backbone as those other show writers.

If a scene is longer than three pages, it better be for a good reason.

I'm used to American actors who have a movie career thinking television acting is beneath them.

Janie's a pretty typical teenager — angry, insecure, confused. I wish I could tell her that's all going to pass, but I don't want to lie to her.

The idea of celibate vampires is ridiculous. To me, vampires are sex. I don't get a vampire story about abstinence. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating and uninformed.

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.

Pam: I don't know what it is about me that makes people think I want to hear their problems. Maybe I smile too much. Maybe I wear too much pink. But please remember I can rip your throat out if I need to. And also know that I am not a hooker. That was a long, long time ago.

Well did you call the hypothetical hardware store and buy a theoretical chainsaw?-- Pam to Jessica, True Blood

Write what you care about, write what moves you, what intrigues you and you find compelling, write what angers you and makes you sad.

Beneath his zen-like tranquility lurks something wounded… and dangerous.

His POV: Angela lies beneath us, embarrassed and vulnerable. This is not the mythically carnal creature of Lester's fantasies; this is a nervous child.

Lester starts unbuttoning Angela's blouse. She seems disconnected from what's happened. Lester pulls her blouse open, exposing her breasts.

It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about.

I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much; my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold onto it. And then it flows through me like rain, and I can't feel anything but gratitude—for every single moment of my stupid, little life.

At sixteen, Angela is strikingly beautiful; with perfect even features, blonde hair and a nubile young body, she's the archetypal American dream girl.

His POV: Angela, naked, FLOATS above us as a deluge of ROSE PETALS falls around her. Her hair fans out around her head GLOWS with a subtle, burnished light.

On VIDEO: We zoom toward her as she takes off her bra clumsily. She's obviously embarrassed, but she's gone this far and there's no turning back. She stands there with her breasts exposed, trying to look defiant, but she's achingly vulnerable…

Her face has lost its usual resolute determination; she's actually enjoying herself spontaneously, and the lack of her usual self-consciousness allows us to see just how beautiful she is.

I definitely see the good in people. Certainly in my own life I strive to be somebody who is functional and well adjusted and can face conflict in a non-emotional and non-destructive way, and those are the people I try to surround myself with in my life. But as characters, they bore me.

We live in a patriarchal culture. It's okay for women to be objectified but not for men.

My own belief is that people can come back from anything. It doesn't mean that it won't come at a huge cost.

I'm a Buddhist, so one of my biggest beliefs is, 'Everything changes, don't take it personally.'

The ego is kind of a big, unwieldy thing. It's not so easily tamed or subdued.