Sobriety was the greatest gift I ever gave myself. I don't put it on a platform. I don't campaign about it. It's just something that works for me. It enabled me to really connect with another human being - my wife, Sheryl - which I was never able to do before.

I have had a lot of blessed, interesting things happen to me and have bumped up against some amazing people.

I've never met a funny person who wasn't smart. I've met a lot of dramatic people who were stupid. But I've never met a funny person who wasn't smart.

The first private space of my own wasn't a dorm room; it was a hotel room in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I look at it like this: that if Shakespeare were alive today, he would have written two or three plays about the Kennedy family, and actors would traditionally play JFK like they Hamlet or King Lear. They just would. I mean, people have played JFK, and they'll play him long after I have.

Being in a successful marriage is no different than being cast in a successful movie. It's all about who you pick; in that first moment, did you pick the right person? I think you need to pick somebody who's more interested in being married than in getting married.

If I had been on 'Ally McBeal,' I would have been seen coming out of the shower on the first show.

I didn't go to Ivy League schools. I dropped out of college to go into movies.

In comedy you have to be willing to not take yourself seriously, you know? I take comedy really seriously, and so to take comedy seriously, you must not, you cannot, ever take yourself seriously.

I never get bored talking about themes dealing with ambition, leadership and what it means to be an American. I love that stuff. I just love it. I've loved it ever since I was on 'The West Wing.'

I wish I was a more religious person. I really admire Martin Sheen for his Catholicism. It's such a bedrock. I wish I had that in my life.

Oh my God, I love rehab! I highly recommend it.

My roles in comedies from 'Austin Powers' to 'Tommy Boy' to 'Wayne's World,' were sort of comedic 'straight man' parts. My character on 'Parks & Recreation' is the comic relief in a comedy. To play a character that appears strictly for laughs is sort of new for me and really fun.

I started out being a really, really liberal Democrat.

It's a little bit of a 'if you can't beat 'em - join 'em' mentality for me when I think about Twitter.

I'm a true centrist: my beliefs put me in the middle... You know what happens to people who drive in the middle of the road? They get run over.

If you treat China like a foe, surely she will become one.

My dad is an attorney. I've always been interested in it. My sons are probably going to law school.

When I started on 'The West Wing,' that was at a time when this was still a stigma, because movie stars didn't do TV. Now, every movie star is desperate to find their 'True Detective.'

I have other obligations now - the show, my family, my life... though I know that without my sobriety I wouldn't have any of those things.

Somewhere in my callow, misspent youth, I was smart enough to marry my best friend.

I've said before that the common perception that all good actors should be good liars is exactly the opposite; only bad actors lie when they act.

Belonging to one party is acceptable. But my days of just ticking the party box are long over. I judge the candidates for who they are.

To go from playing Jack Startz in 'Behind the Candelabra' to playing JFK in the same year, I have now operated at the far ends of my range as an actor.

Temperamentally, Sam and I are very much alike. He's a lawyer, my father's a lawyer, and I always wanted to play one. On so many levels the role just felt right. I fell in love with it as I would a woman.

I couldn't have gotten sober without rehab because I needed the science.

I had long ago become a creation, a public image made to be consumed, piled on top of a precarious shell of a little boy wanting to be loved.

If you're telling a story, and somebody is going to come out badly, it better be you.

The term 'celebrity memoir' has gotten such a bad name now, but there used to be a little bit of an art form to it.

Directors are not worried about casting beautiful women, but they are not sure that they want to cast great-looking men. My looks have prevented people from seeing my work.

I have, on the other hand, felt ill will from various people in the industry and the press.

I try to be authentically who I am.

By making more people aware of lymphoma, Worldwide Lymphoma Awareness Day hopes to save lives by increasing early diagnosis and suitable treatment.

I feel pressures to stay relevant. To stay interesting and interested. To stay at the top of my game and expand.

What's gratifying about West Wing is that everybody told us that it couldn't be done - that the man or woman on the street didn't care about politics. But if you set things up correctly, people don't have a problem with it.

As a person navigating the waters of public scrutiny, you are often unable to hold on to personal heroes or villains. Inevitably you will meet your hero, and he may turn out to be less than impressive, while your villain turns out to be the coolest cat you've ever met.

There's this unbelievable bias and prejudice against quote-unquote good-looking people, that they can't be in pain or they can't have rough lives or be deep or interesting.

Look, I owns guns.

Guys are really lucky. We become our authentic selves the older we get.

For all our current troubles, Americans are still the hardest working, most innovative people on the face of the earth. By trusting the American people, instead of government, we'll continue to surprise and inspire the world.

When you tax capital gains income, you don't help the economy, you hurt the economy, which is why President Kennedy, President Reagan, President Clinton and President Bush all believed we should have a lower rate for capital gains.

If you start very far to the left, it's harder to get to the middle.

If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix Social Security, that's not a very good starting point.

We have a paralysis in Washington that's not serving our country. We have to address these issues.

This past year has been very turbulent for the Middle East, and my conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu strengthened my belief that we need to remain vigilant in our support of our critical ally.

I think what people are looking for right now is not the kind of pizzazz and pop that perhaps we thought we got in 2008. Certainly, President Obama offered that. What they want now is someone who can work closely with Congress and get things done.

Ohio chose the president in 2000 and 2004. The independent voters, the so-called swing voters, are the ones who make the difference.

If you focus on what people care about, you have ideas. And people are looking for solutions.

John Kasich is the most popular elected official in Ohio because he got things done.

I was fortunate, I guess, to be part of some good fiscal discipline in the Bush administration. The budget I put forward was a balanced budget.