Doug Liman Quotes

Some people think my father was a spy, because of working for that government agency in Vietnam, but he can't find his car keys, much less keep a national secret.

My father-in-law was once Chairman of Military Affairs in the Senate, the latter part of the Wilson Administrations. He knew a lot about and was fond of the Army.

I've consciously tried not to romanticize anything, especially not intelligence work. I've always said that I've been writing a series of episodic, naturalistic novels. The people just happen to be spies, politicians, civil servants.

It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.

Most senators are just going to work and trying to do a job.

So with the end of the Cold War, it became increasingly obvious that there was no basis upon which any decision was being made, not in the White House, and certainly because of that, not in the Congress.

Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.

In the Senate, there is a wide spectrum of views on foreign policy.

If the president is failing to disclose material facts with regard to legislation being presented to the Congress on a question as important as war and peace, I think it does impair the level of trust that the House and the Senate have for this administration.

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.

You'd make a great Secretary of State because State Department personnel don't answer questions completely either.

No, I look at the senators and pray for the country!

Do I have comedy writers? Of course I have writers—535 of them—100 in the Senate and 435 in the House.

National security needs to be priority number one and if you're willing to play politics with our national security then you have no business serving in the Senate or the House.

I've always been intrigued by the Senate, and admired many of the people who have served there.

As members of Congress, we may disagree with the administration's position on foreign policy matters, but the fact remains: the Executive Branch is tasked with handling diplomatic matters.

The Senate is where the issues are, and most people there are career politicians.

I think the main thing that affected my comedy was that my dad slept in a nightgown for most of my childhood. And it was just very funny every single night and made me realize that laughter is fun and nightgowns are cool.

What is funny about us is precisely that we take ourselves too seriously.

I haven't laughed so much over anything since the hogs ate my kid brother.

People don't understand that we're not warriors in their cause. We're a group of people that really feel that they want to write jokes about the absurdity that we see in government and the world and all that, and that's it.

Better that right counsels be known to enemies than that the evil secrets of tyrants should be concealed from the citizens. They who can treat secretly of the affairs of a nation have it absolutely under their authority; and as they plot against the enemy in time of war, so do they against the citizens in time of peace.

All I know is just what I read in the Congressional Record. They have had some awful funny articles in there lately. As our government deteriorates, our humor increases.

Sex is pretty funny, let's face it. And the more seriously we take ourselves, the funnier sex gets, I think.

We're going to be eternally optimistic that the Senate is going to get their work done.