English dialogues are always just what you need and nothing more - like something out of Hemingway. In Italian and in French, dialogues are always theatrical, literary. You can do more with it.

I left the ending ambiguous, because that is the way life is.

I don't film messages. I let the post office take care of those.

I don't think you can in any way export culture with guns or tanks.

If New York is the Big Apple, tonight Hollywood is the Big Nipple.

I accept all interpretations of my films. The only reality is before the camera. Each film I make is kind of a return to poetry for me, or at least an attempt to create a poem.

A dolly move is a moral commitment.

A monoculture is not only Hollywood, but Americans trying to export democracy.

As a loyal believer in the Auteur Theory I first felt editing was but the logical consequence of the way in which one shoots. But, what I learned is that it is actually another writing.

Film students should stay as far away from film schools and film teachers as possible. The only school for the cinema is the cinema.

I remember being young in the 1960s. We had a great sense of the future, a great big hope. This is what is missing in the youth today. This being able to dream and to change the world.

That which is currently beyond your capabilities now, does not have to be so forever

Another one of your quippy japes?

I always say to my students that being a scientist is like being an explorer, and I really mean that because, in a sense, I think in science we explore the world, the universe around us.

Be tenacious. Get as much stage time as possible.

I have been very lucky, I have only had one bad experience.

The world is not always a kind place. That's something all children learn for themselves, whether we want them to or not, but it's something they really need our help to understand.

I think once every person on the planet sees 'New Moon' and there's nobody left who hasn't see it, then I think they'll be able to go see 'Ninja.'

I'm very staid compared to my students, actually.

At boarding schools of every description, the relaxation of the junior boys is mischief; and of the senior, vice.

I am interested in the relationships and play between an unfamiliar picture/object context and the familiar photographic image.