J. J. Abrams Quotes

I needed to step away from music because the truth was I couldn't be the dad I wanted to be to my kids. My truth was that I could not reconcile the two worlds - the entertainment world and being the dad I wanted to be in the present. You can't substitute time, you just can't.

I turned down a movie this summer because it was nine weeks in Vancouver and my oldest daughter is 14. I've got four more summers with her. I'm not giving away nine weeks of her summer to go do a silly movie.

For many years, I decided not to do television because I have three children, but now my youngest is finally old enough to be in kindergarten. So I'm not feeling that kind of tug of not being with her as much.

To make time for writing, one has to take time out from somewhere. Obviously, a fair amount of time that you spend with the family gets compromised. But my family has been very understanding and supportive.

One of the things I'm most proud of over the years, is time management and balancing family and work. Everyday, you just look at what needs to be done and do that, what needs to be done. That includes the idea that family is first, kids are first and when you're with the family, put the phone down, look them right in the eye.

You can have a startup and one other thing, you can have a family, but you probably can't have many other things.

Financially, I do not need to work unless I want to, and whatever film I accept has to be right for me in the sense that it should justify the time I spend away from my husband and kids.

I recognize the amount of time that it takes as a director. I made the choice to stop taking roles outside of L.A. because I didn't want to miss any of my child's life.

I love my work, but there is no price you can put on what you miss when you are away from your kids.

My priorities are my family and my job. I have little time for much else.

Before I had kids I'd go out on the road for months and months at a time, but now I don't think I'd want to do that anymore, because I'd miss too much time at home, so it's just a matter of monitoring how much work that I do and how much time I'm on the road.

I've made decisions along the way so I would be there for my kids, and it's kept me from going places I would have gone.

I reluctantly left the series because a) my age. I'm 68 tomorrow and time is very precious for me to spend time at home with my family and especially with the grandchildren. They're aged 7 and 5. After three years I became homesick for my home.

I have two kids, career and I travel, and I don't think my life is any different than most couples. The most valuable commodity now for many people is time and how to parcel that out.

I've had jobs that allow me the flexibility to achieve work-life balance, to be there when one of the kids sinks a jump shot or for the parent-teacher meetings. I can move tasks around. If I don't get something done at the office at 4:30 in the afternoon, I can go back to it at 10:00 in the evening.

A man should never neglect his family for business.

You don't get to see your family much. In the movie business, directors often go out of town for long periods of time, and even if you're in town, you're working 14-15 hour days. People tend to not balance out the important things in their lives with their career.

My family life is incredibly important to me. I want to be with them as much as I can. I try to work in New York, or I work in the summer time when my family can come with me.

'Grey Gardens' consumed my life for over two and a half years. It really takes its toll on the family. I'm not there to tuck them in, help them with homework and eat dinner with them. When I work on a show, I only have about 20 minutes a day with my family.

I have always been very choosy, but as you grow older, your tolerance for crap becomes less. The role I will do today has to justify the time I take away from my kids and my husband. I love them, spend a lot of time with them and love doing things for them. So to go away for three to six months, I need something equally powerful.

I'm more selective now I've got a family. I don't want to work all the time. My daughter's 12; I don't want to miss out on her life. Soon she'll be a teenager; she won't want me around.

One of the reasons I didn't really want to do TV earlier in my career was because it is so life-consuming, and I wanted to spend time with my kids and be a mother.

My first priority is time with my family.

I've often been asked to run for office. I have no desire to do that, I would not want my time with the family or the company restricted because of the demands of an elected position.

Once, I was out of the house 93 days in a year. I was missing grandparents' days at schools and kids' birthdays and Valentine's Day, not to mention the fact that when you're on the road, you can't get anything done. I had to learn to say 'No,' cut back on travel.