James L. Brooks Quotes

When I look at the world, I recognize that unfortunately, it sometimes takes an atrocity like 9/11 to force us to come together.

Initially, the horrific images of September 11th triggered an enormous wave of solidarity.

I'm a New Yorker. I was there during 9/11 and I saw how, not only New York City stopped for a moment, we all took an inhale and exhale at the same time - the world united at that time, and it changed my life.

Shock, confusion, fear, anger, grief, and defiance. On Sept. 11, 2001, and for the three days following the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, President George W. Bush led with raw emotion that reflected the public's whipsawing stages of acceptance.

Complete strangers can stand silent next to each other in an elevator and not even look each other in the eye. But at a concert, those same strangers could find themselves dancing and singing together like best friends. That's the power of music.

Broadcasting through 9/11 together, like Katie Couric and I did, creates a bond.

Music speaks to people in a way that breaks down boundaries that words and actions sometimes can't.

I think that the best part of music is when it comes from a real place and has an ability to kind of connect on a much larger scale. It no longer is a personal thing, it becomes everyone else's thing as well.

I am for poetry that is admired by peasant and aristocrat alike.

There are so many things in life that divide us, that separate us and tear us apart, be it race, religion, creed, socioeconomic level, nationality or any variety of other factors. But running is something that we all share in common.

One can say of language that it is potentially the only human home, the only dwelling place that cannot be hostile to man.

Artists don't really want to be marginalized. They believe that everybody should be able to appreciate the experience that an artist gives them, an experience that connects us to each other in a deep way.

Whatever your supposed politics are - left, right - if you put it in a human connection, most people will rise to the occasion and feel the human pain in a way that they might not if it was presented in a more conceptual way.

People don't come to stadiums only to see results. They come to see a reaction, they want to see we are also human, that we can cry or laugh.

A wonderful thing about true laughter is that it just destroys any kind of system of dividing people.

Music is therapy. Music moves people. It connects people in ways that no other medium can. It pulls heart strings. It acts as medicine.

September 11th was a moment when America had the sympathy of the world.

All those chemicals that create empathy only work when you are in a room together.

Running is a simple, primitive act, and therein lays its power. For it is one of the few commonalities left between us as a human race.

There is an eternal humanity that crosses through all people, and it's more interesting often when it's about struggle - not people with champagne glasses.

The blues brings you back into the fold. The blues isn't about the blues, it's about we have all had the blues and we are all in this together.

It's a unique thing, and it's probably the thing I love most about songs and music - their ability to connect in a human way.

Love is the only unifier in the world. We've all felt exactly the same way. It'll make you crazy, and it'll make you ecstatic, and that's true for everyone.

In terms of helping people understand and know each other a little better, music is universal - universal and transporting.

Can you think of a single situation, no matter how grave, where the atmosphere would not be instantly shattered with a loud fart - or a drawing of a butt? There is no faster way to create universal common ground.