Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab.

Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.

As a filmmaker, I ask questions but don't have answers. Moviemaking is a philosophical exploration. I invite the audience to come on the journey and discover what they think and feel.

All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they're stereotypes because they're true.

I can't imagine a life without humor. Especially if you have an existential understanding of life, you must acknowledge the absurdity of it all.

My understanding of life is very existential. I think that we are our bodies. There's nothing else, and when we die, that's it. No afterlife.

I like to laze around. I think that's a huge part of creativity. You have to let your mind relax and then another part of your brain suddenly connects with the solution you're trying to find.

Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: they confuse reality with illusion.

When I am creating art, I have absolutely no social responsibility. It's like dreaming.

Consciousness is the original sin: consciousness of the inevitability of our death.

The artist's duty to himself is a combination of immense responsibility and immense irresponsibility. I think those two interlock.

He speaks in a way that leaves no room for argument, on the edge of condescension and caring. It's a trick all men of the South have to learn before they're accepted as one of the good ol' boys.

Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.

Like all security, privacy is hard.

Life would have been easier for me if I just hadn't met you. But then it hadn't been my life.

Why do you judge me as a musician, John? All I'm interested in is making money.

The coercive power of government is always a beacon to those who want to dominate others -- summoning the worst dregs of society to Washington to use that power to impose their will upon others.

Talk about life - but in your own way.

I believe transparency in government is key to restoring our nations faith in its elected leaders.

...it is how a person goes about quenching his desires or living with them unrequited that the readers get a glimpse of his true character.

Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life.