Top 98 Quotes & Sayings by Nell Scovell

Given the long history of global anti-Semitism and continued calls for the destruction of Israel, it's tough to be a Jew.

In her darkest hours, Diana, Princess of Wales, could have used a friend like Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The two lived similar lives, a century apart.

I realize that 'hire qualified women!' is the sort of outraged demand that's often met with a sigh. No one disagrees, and yet gender inequality in high-paying positions extends into all professions.

It's notoriously difficult to get actors to go on record speaking about other actors. Such requests are usually met with terse replies from publicists explaining that their clients are on set and too busy to reply.

Early on in my career, I was often the only woman in the room, writing for shows like 'Late Night with David Letterman,' 'The Simpsons,' 'Newhart,' and 'Coach,' and sometimes I'd feel like I didn't belong.

Making someone laugh is the simplest, most basic positive human connection.

Jenny McCarthy has used her celebrity and sex appeal to attract attention to autism. And while no one questions McCarthy's determination and passion, many scientists have debunked her anti-vaccine message and her claims that a gluten-free diet can provide a cure.

I was the second female writer ever hired at 'Late Night.' When I applied for the job in 1988, I had no way of knowing how much the odds were stacked against me.

The more successful you are as a man, the more you're liked. And the more successful you are as a woman, the more you're disliked.

When you start a memoir, you think, 'I'm going to blast all the people who were mean to me.' And then you start writing, and you go, actually, it's so much more fun to say nice things about people who were kind and generous to you.

Retaining a child-like sense of wonder is a boon for creative types like Steven Spielberg and J. K. Rowling.

My criticisms of late-night TV blew up some old friendships and sparked some new ones.

The focus on male politicians extends beyond clothes, legs, and pretty faces. It's hard to find an article about former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich that doesn't mention his mop.

The vocabulary of my cynical world doesn't allow me to explain the success of 'Lean In.'

We have so many great memoirs from women in front of the camera, from Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler, and Amy Schumer.

Together, we must all remember that one of the most effective responses to hate speech is more speech.

Like Lindsay Lohan and Lauren Conrad, Barack Obama is addicted to his BlackBerry.

I basically lived like a guy for, certainly, the first decade of my career, and I just wanted to blend in.

Moral licensing comes into play when people rely on past behavior to dismiss current prejudiced behavior. This is better known as the 'Some of my best friends are...' defense.

Male writers don't want to be judged in the room. They want to be able to scarf an entire bag of potato chips while cracking fart jokes and making lewd comments without fear of feminine disapproval. But we're your co-workers, not your wives.

Constant exercise can keep the body trim and taut, but the face is another thing.

One of the great things about being in entertainment is you have access to the media. People pay attention to you.

My first joke that ever aired on 'Late Night' was for a list of 'Top 10 Least Popular Summer Camps.' My contribution - 'Camp Tick in beautiful Lyme, Connecticut' - squeaked in at No. 10. Like a trip to Camp Tick, my time at 'Late Night' faded into memory like a short session at a dicey summer camp.

Studies do show that in hierarchical structures, you do get more harassment. There's more power concentrated at the top, which means there's more abuse of power concentrated at the top. And every TV show is very much a hierarchy.

The creative process is often wrapped up in bottomless anxiety, and when the world applauds the product of that process, it soothes the anxiety. Briefly. Then the anxiety returns and even intensifies.

The Pulitzer Prize was established when Joseph Pulitzer died in 1911, leaving a bequest to create the eponymous award. An immigrant from Hungary, Pulitzer struck it rich by combining the 'St. Louis Post' and the 'St. Louis Dispatch' to make the - wait for it - 'St. Louis Post-Dispatch.'

I traveled to Israel in a small party assembled by Marty Peretz, the editor-in-chief of 'The New Republic.' Other guests included Senator Al Gore and his wife, Tipper. Like every tourist group, we climbed Masada, floated in the Dead Sea, and visited a kibbutz.

Smash together the Grammys, Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys, and you get the Green Room at the Kennedy Center Honors.

The Kennedy Center Honors reflects our humanity and higher purpose. We are a great nation, in part, because we value culture.

Everyone - male and female - is biased. But no one wants to admit it, so our brains search for examples that disprove the accusation.

Garry Shandling's stand-up specials were masterpieces of tightly crafted stories that delivered both hard jokes and hard truths. He was neurotic and self-deprecating, and his observations on life cut deep.

Hated 'The Imitation Game.' Totally inaccurate. A gay man with a messy room? Don't buy it.

In TV, you look to make characters consistent, but in real life, we're not consistent. Sometimes we're brave, and sometimes we're not. Sometimes we're very aggressive, and sometimes we back right down.

Moms Mabley blazed a path for female stand-ups in a housecoat and floppy hat. Phyllis Diller worked equally hard to make herself unattractive to men and non-threatening to women.

Albert Brooks. Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Larry David. The best comedic actors play broad and real simultaneously, coming across as both larger than life and all too human.

Unfortunately, my system for tracking down funny female writers isn't methodical. It's mainly based on word-of-mouth, which can cast a limited net.

There have been many great newspapermen, but to my mind, only two have achieved immortality: Pulitzer for his endowment and William Randolph Hearst for his castle.

An ocean of ink - real and virtual - has been spilled critiquing the appearance of female politicians.

You want a diverse writers' room, not because it's the fair thing to do or the right thing to do, but because it's the best thing to do for your show. I've seen that to be true.

Feminists cried, 'Sexism!' when New York Senator Hillary Clinton was judged not by the content of her character but by the color of her pantsuits.

I think I'm funnier in my writing than in person.

I've been speaking out about harassment and gender disparity for years.

If women who don't help women get a special circle in hell, I think women who do help women should get a special cloud in heaven.

One of the most rebellious things a woman can do is allow people to think she's mean.

The desire to keep doing what we love supersedes the desire to penalize bad behavior.

By June 1990, I'd racked up 'written by' credits on both 'Newhart' and 'The Simpsons.'

In March 2010, I attended an art opening for Kimberly Brooks's show 'The Stylist Project' in Los Angeles. It was a starry celebration hosted by Dior and 'Vanity Fair' to benefit P.S. Arts. But even as fun-to-gape-at actresses like Christina Hendricks arrived, I couldn't take my eyes off the oil portraits.

The first Emmys I went to was in 1990 when the five nominees for best comedy were 'Designing Women,' 'Golden Girls,' 'Murphy Brown,' 'Cheers,' 'Wonder Years.' Three and a half were created by women.

People say, 'Dress for the job you want,' and since I wanted a job that guys had, I dressed like a guy.

Arts are a luxury, proof that a civilization has risen above 'politics and war.'

I think empathy is undervalued in a lot of these comedy writers' rooms.

Howard Dean is no longer the brilliant mastermind of the Fifty State Strategy that enabled the Democrats to storm the White House and Congress. He's the idiot wearing an ugly sweatshirt.

For me, TV had always been a medium for entertainment.

Broad City's first season is full of moments that are insane... and yet make total sense.

The average career span for a TV writer is 11 years. The only other thing I could find that had the same career span was a police dog.

If necessity is the mother of invention, urgency is the uncle of change. Without it, progress slows and then stops and then reverses.

An executive producer with an all-male writing staff once inadvertently revealed his deep, dark fear. While discussing a full-time position for me, he mused out loud, 'I wonder if having a woman in the room will change everything.' Of course, what he really meant was: 'I wonder if having a woman in the room will change me.'

In Hollywood, you kind of trick yourself into feeling like you have impact.

Once, after a long week, I felt so insecure that I decided to make a list of people who thought I was funny even if I didn't think I was. At the top of the list, I wrote, 'Garry Shandling.' His early praise protected me like a comedy-writer version of Harry Potter's scar.

I'm a little sad that they actually came up with the metaphor of waves for feminism. By definition, a wave goes in, and it comes out. I would really like it to be a tsunami that creates a flood that forever changes the landscape.