I got put on jury duty, which is where I learned how to write.

The closer you stay to emotional authenticity and people, character authenticity, the less you can go wrong. That's how I feel now, no matter what you're doing.

Anything you could ever want or be you already have and are.

The holy trifecta of directing and filmmaking is character emotion, camera movement and music. When you hit those three, that's magical. That's what I'm trying to do.

There's nothing better than an actor who is really, really hungry to show everything they've got.

You know, veterans come home and they may not be bipolar, but after they've been through a war with PTSD or a head injury, their families have a handful when they come home.

That's just how I see things. I think things that are the most dramatic or tragic can also look the most ridiculous and funny. That's part of being human.

The idea that anyone would think their religious ideas make them morally superior is just preposterous.

The gift of life is the gift to suffer sometimes and to embrace it, heartbreak and all.

What do we have in life, really? If we're lucky we get to a certain age, and we have each other. We have the food we like. We have our crazy little rituals. And we have each other.

There's always hope. Never give up. Walk slowly and drink lots of water. It ain't a sprint.

That's a good attitude. You should hate me more, curse me more, and detest me! Then you should take the power of that hatred and use it to survive this rotten world.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

American love — like coke in green glass bottles...they don't make it anymore.

I've been talking about things like reversing the rise of inequality and strengthening social mobility,since before it was cool.

The biggest challenge is how you get money for independent films, in these ever-changing times when most people don't really want to invest in that anymore.

We also had an "in" with MTV those days. Tara Reid was engaged to Carson Daly. She just called him and was like, "Do you want to be in the movie?" So they kind of had to make it work.

I always say whoever can figure out how to make ice cream healthy will be a gazillionaire.

There's something about strength that I really admire, that I failed to see a lot of when I was growing up.

Fear is energy which contracts, closes down, draws in, runs, hides, hoards, harms. Love is the energy which expands, opens up, sends out, stays, reveals, shares, HEALS.

Philosophy is an elegant thing, if anyone modestly meddles with it; but if they are conversant with it more than is becoming, it corrupts them.