Brad [Pitt], poor geezer, was blown up, thrown around, burned, slapped, frozen. But never a moan or a whine. Now that's what I call a real star.

It's not easy to strap yourself down to a desk and bash on a keyboard when you know you can direct lots of films, because directing films is fun and interactive and gregarious. Writing isn't.

We're not unique. We're quite volatile as individuals, but that doesn't work exponentially when we are together. Relationships are about eating humble pie.

My principal job is to make interesting and entertaining films, and I'm not proud of which format or which particular technique I use. I just wanted the film to look good.

I'm not under too much of an illusion of how smart or un-smart I am because filmmaking ultimately is about teamwork.

If somebody has a better idea than me, I'll take it if it surpasses what we have on the page because at the end of the day, it's me that takes the credit anyway!

If you change the rules on what controls you... you will change the rules on what you can control.

I got into film-making because I was interested in making entertaining movies, which I felt there was a lack of.

The best thing to do is find one person in your life and try to love them unconditionally. If you've accomplished that, you've accomplished a lot.

We can all be conned but at what point do we realize that we're being conned and to what point do we allow ourselves to be conned?

I think there's a natural system in your own head about how much violence the scene warrants. It's not an intellectual process, it's an instinctive process.

A smile is a flower of a loving and caring heart. Smile with love.

It was a piece of thoroughly picturesque and proper violence. I like a violent man, really, a man who's a bit of a brute in a decent straightforward way.

Bring to the table what you want to take away from the table!

Work hard to achieve your dreams.

Like a kiss on the lips is the one who gives an honest answer.

A victim is someone who blames it all on someone else. Why give all the power to someone else and leave yourself powerless?

MUMMY, n. - an ancient Egyptian handy, too, in museums in gratifying the vulgar curiosity that serves to distinguish man from the lower animals.

He wants to live on through something - and in his case, his masterpiece is his son. All of us want that, and it gets more poignant as we get more anonymous in this world.

The message is not so much that the worms will inherit the Earth, but that all things play a role in nature, even the lowly worm.

I'm not the messenger at all. I'm the message.