Almost all movie scripts contain material that cannot be filmed.

Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills.

The Oscars demonstrate the will of the people to control and judge those they have elected to stand above them (much, perhaps, as in bygone days, an election celebrated the same).

Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?"

When the three branches of government have failed to represent the citizenry and the mass of the media has failed to represent the citizenry, then the citizenry better represent the citizenry.

Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.

It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.

Opportunity may knock, but it seldom nags.

We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.

People may or may not say what they mean... but they always say something designed to get what they want.

Being a writer in Hollywood is like going to Hitler's Eagle Nest with a great idea for a bar mitzvah.

We need to walk to know sacred places, those around us and those within. We need to walk to remember the songs.

Renewed mind. Revived spirit. Restored strength.

Good lyrics always drown me with them till they cease to flow.

There is no accounting for tastes.

You obviously want the results but you must do your job in every at-bat and deal with what every situation dictates.

Memory that yearns to join the centre, a limb remembering the body from which it has been severed, like those bamboo thighs of the god.

[On hearing that President Coolidge was dead:] How can you tell?

The point isn't to know what you're doing. The point is to have an experience doing something.

I'd make people say 'use Fork;' if I thought I could get away with it.

Even if humans feel lots of fear, remember God will take care of you. This is a collective message because fear is contagious... This is a message of reassurance.