Quotes

I'm not somebody who really believes in curses, but curse this baby! [on the so called "Seinfeld curse", in which little or no success has come since the show to the four main actors, upon accepting her Emmy Award for The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006)]

I will quote Norman Lear, who said that celebrity is something you can spend. And so I have taken my so-called celebrity and occasionally spent it down on causes or things that I'm passionate about. I'm not running for office. I'm not a scientist. But I'm a concerned citizen.

[on playing the leading character on Veep (2012)] Well, let's see. I personally am not the Vice-President of the United States. I want to make sure everyone understands that. But the aspect of presenting yourself in a certain way to the public and be liked - there is a parallel between public life and life as a person in show business, and that's sort of fun to draw on. I'm trying to watch a lot of in-between moments on C-SPAN.

Whenever I felt down, my mom would remind me that sense of humor gets you through just about anything.

[2013, on accepting an Emmy Award for Veep (2012)] This is so much good fortune it is almost too much to bear. I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to make people laugh. It's a joyful way to make a living.

I love the film festival circuit. I think there's something about it, I don't know. Maybe I'm being Pollyanna-ish about this, but it's an opportunity to be very supportive of filmmakers, and there's just this goodwill which I love.

[on Nicole Holofcener] She runs a set that that's very, very, very relaxed. Her dog comes to the set, her kids come to the set, my kids come to the set, my parents come to the set, my best friend from the third grade, her best friend. There is a comfort she promotes on set that helps everybody relaxed into behaving I would say as realistically as possible.

[on undertaking the role of Eva in Enough Said (2013)] I was such a massive Nicole Holofcener fan that it was an irresistible cocktail. She has such a distinctive voice, don't you think?

[on the current television production scene] It has certainly changed. The business model of television, meaning the currency of ratings, is not what it used to be back in the early days of Seinfeld (1989). It's sort of the wild, wild west, because now there are so many platforms and areas for good television, which is really exciting. I love working in pay cable because, from a creative point-of-view, the latitude is so phenomenal.

[2014, on continuing her pivotal role on Veep (2012)] I think there's something to be said for working as a group, collaborating over a period of time. Needless to say, we know each other and we have seen each other's rhythms, managed to pull together a really fine group of actors, writers, directors. It's a good dance we've got going along right now.

I'm open to any material that's good. Be it a short film, be it a feature length film. I mean, good ideas aren't low-hanging fruit ready to be picked. They're sometimes very hard to come by. So I'm interested in good ideas no matter what form they take.

[Accepting the 2018 Mark Twain Award at the Kennedy Center] Unfortunately the President of the United States couldn't make it tonight either, even though he lives in the neighborhood, Mondays through Wednesdays.