I ain't Martin Luther King. I don't need a dream. I have a plan.

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.

Should she slam his head into the bar or toss her beer on him? Damn shame to waste good beer.

In our moments in the sun beware of casting dark shadows.

To ask why we need libraries at all, when there is so much information available elsewhere, is about as sensible as asking if roadmaps are necessary now that there are so very many r

Genius is always more suggestive than expressive.

Let's grease the wheel over tea, let's discuss things in confidence. Let's be outspoken, let's be ridiculous, let's solve the world's problems.

The difference between the real winners is how long they take to feel sorry for themselves. My winners feel it... but they come back up and say 'hit me again.'

Coercive power is the curse of the universe, coactive power, the enrichment and advancement of every human soul.

When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.

I attempt to be who I am and it's fun. At the same time, growing up doing what I'm doing can be a little crazy.

I don't (do) the paintings for the money at all. I just love to paint, even if I don't sell them.