I was fired from my own television show, CBS's Family Law. It was the second time this had happened in my career, the first being when I was fired from The Facts of Life. I had been grateful to work in TV for so long but had always been chasing a career as a feature writer-director and had completely failed.

Paul Haggis

Categorized in : Long Grateful Facts Of Life

I don't think writers should write about answers. I think writers should write about questions.

Paul Haggis

answers writing thinking

As a general rule, I don't plan to travel with my Oscars, but we may have to make an exception.

Paul Haggis

oscars may travel

I was in a cult for thirty-four years. Everyone else could see it. I don’t know why I couldn’t.

Paul Haggis

thirty four years

I've lived in America for many years. I mean, I love being a Canadian, but I truly identify with America. I love America so much.

Paul Haggis

love-is mean years

I like to write about things about which I have no answers, questions that trouble me. These things trouble me.

Paul Haggis

trouble answers writing

You have to be careful of the advice you take.

Paul Haggis

careful be-careful advice

Now we really like to put people in boxes. As men, we do it because we don't understand characters that aren't ourselves and we aren't willing to put ourselves in the skin of those characters and women, I think, terrify us. We tend not to write women as human beings. It's cartoons we're making now. And that's a shame.

Paul Haggis

writing character men

United States could be a great country. It needs to be a great country. It's our responsibility as citizens to make that happen, every single one of us.

Paul Haggis

united-states responsibility country

Usually the characters are where I start. Then I continually ask myself, 'What's the worst thing that could happen to this character?'

Paul Haggis

worst happens character

Always write from your gut, no matter what the project is.

Paul Haggis

projects matter writing

What I love about writing is the contradictions we all embody as human beings.

Paul Haggis

contradiction humans writing

If you change the right mind, then that person can perhaps change the world.

Paul Haggis

persons mind world

I just want to thank people who take big risks in their daily lives when there aren't cameras rolling. I want to dedicate this award to people who stand up for peace and against injustice and intolerance.

Paul Haggis

awards risk people

If there's magic in boxing, it's the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.

Paul Haggis

boxing fighting dream

We give you characters we'd feel very comfortable judging, and then go: 'Oh yeah? Watch this'.

Paul Haggis

judging giving character

You don't do pictures because the audience is ready for them. You do them because there's something gnawing at you, something inside.

Paul Haggis

audience ready

I was trying to talk about where we are right now as a society, and talk about the fear we all live in, and certainly since 9-11, how it's affected us and the world.

Paul Haggis

right-now trying world

I don't think it's the job of filmmakers to give anybody answers. I do think, though, that a good film makes you ask questions of yourself as you leave the theatre.

Paul Haggis

jobs giving thinking

We crash into each other just so we can feel something.

Paul Haggis

crash feels

The hope is what America represents to the world and has always represented - the hope for a better life and a better world. We have a duty to protect and support that hope with not just our words, but with our deeds.

Paul Haggis

our-words support america