I like to know where I am. I don't like the kind of cutting where you don't know where you are.

I think I'm good at amplifying an actor's strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses. And they all have strengths and weaknesses.

When a film like Chris Nolan's Memento cannot get picked up, to me independent film is over. It's dead.

To me the director’s job is to leave it in better shape than you found it, literally.

If you're sitting around thinking what other people think about your work, you'll just become paralysed.

We [people] are a species that's wired to tell stories. We need stories. It's how we make sense of things. It's how we learn.

I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating...anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us-I think this world would be unlivable without art and I thank you.

You’re supposed to expand your mind to fit the art, you’re not supposed to chop the art down to fit your mind.

There are three major social issues that this country is struggling with: education, poverty, and drugs. Two of them we talk about, and one of them we don't.

What are the stories you want people to tell about you?

The ought to be a worldwide cultural taskforce that just stops you when you have ideas like combining The Red Desert with an armored car heist movie.

No man can walk so long in the Shadow that he cannot come again to the Light.

You cats mind if I make it a trio?' he asked me, and it was not a huge surprise that a dude of his appearance was speaking in Jazz Voice.

The perfect song neither ends nor begins. It is always playing. Remember to stop and listen.

First achieve small things and you will achieve great things ultimately... and no one will forget.

Boys and girls should be taught respect for each other's liberty... and that jealousy and possessiveness kill love.

The [budget] deficit isn't the immediate problem for most people, the weak economy is.

All of management is about self-confidence

We've got a lot to gain and nothing to lose.

You cannot dance an arabesque in 'Swan Lake' and 'Nutcracker' the same way.

For some people, life is the process of knocking through walls to get out. For others, it is the building of walls.