Cinema is a medium that can translate ideas.

I like cappuccino, actually. But even a bad cup of coffee is better than no coffee at all.

I don't know why people expect art to make sense. They accept the fact that life doesn't make sense.

I like things that go into hidden, mysterious places, places I want to explore that are very disturbing. In that disturbing thing, there is sometimes tremendous poetry and truth.

This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.

We think we understand the rules when we become adults but what we really experience is a narrowing of the imagination.

Mankind was not meant to suffer -- bliss is our nature. The individual is cosmic. Let's rock.

Absurdity is what I like most in life.

It's so freeing, it's beautiful in a way, to have a great failure, there's nowhere to go but up.

We only dream of images we already have inside of us.

I supported myself by delivering the 'Wall Street Journal' and doing odd jobs. I love plumbing and carpentry.

And I realized that there's a big difference between deciding to leave and knowing where to go.

That's something that Francis [Ford Coppola] would always say. I remember when I was doing Tetro, he said, "Stay innocent. I'm 69 years old, and I'm still innocent."

horses: dangerous on both ends and crafty in the middle

To believe, it seemed, one had to want to believe.

Hatreds never cease by hatreds in this world. By love alone they cease. This is an ancient Law.

I don't feel sure about doing good in any way now; everything seems like going on a mission to a people whose language I don't know.

Building a baseball team is like building a house. You look for the best architects, the best builders - and then you let them do their jobs.

Let people hide in their homes, caged like chickens. Cowards deserve no better.

True enjoyments also keep people from vice.

I like a twisted sense of humour. On 'A History of Violence,' David Cronenberg and I would be doing the grimmest scenes and laugh a lot.