Everything I do is always scrutinised. But that's all I'll say about that.

I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.

There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.

I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.

I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.

It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work.

Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.

When you love something it's not a job anymore.

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.

If you want to get ahead in life, I've found that perhaps the most useless word in the world is "tomorrow.

The thing that pleases is not always good and, helas, the good thing does not always please.

All of us wrestle with the angels of our inabilities all the time. We live in fear that our incapacities will be exposed. We posture and evaluate and assess and criticize mercilessly.

I just think racism is within each and every one of us. It's everyone's responsibility to figure out how they deal with this kind of obsolete instinct.

I never seen snakes on a plane

I didn't want to be the girl who posed in 'Playboy' and then - by the way - made some music.

I've come to the conclusion that the average person can do about four things a day, like four real things a day.

Life shouldn't be about sitting around staring at frosted glass. Life should be lived and that's all there is to it.

Our character is basically a composite of our habits.

My whole background, my whole life was just lots and lots of theater, a lot of that being musical theater.