I'm going to be 60, and I'm almost used to myself.

There's no such thing as simple. Simple is hard.

You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.

Every scene is a lesson. Every shot is a school. Let the learning continue.

As a child I had terrible asthma.

More than ninety percent of directing a picture is the right casting

Now more than ever we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other and understand how we see the world, and cinema is the best medium for doing this.

I love movies - it's my whole life, and that's it.

Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out.

Always stay open to surprise.

I’m not interested in a realistic look, not at all, not ever. Every film should look the way I feel.

[E]ach of our voices has something unique to say. Not only should I not mold my life to the demands of external conformity

What people actually refer to as research nowadays is really just Googling.

I come to win.

Birds born in cages think that flying is a disease.

Over the years I have discovered that ideas come through an intense desire for them; continually desiring, the mind becomes a watchtower on the lookout for incidents that may excite the imagination.

At any moment the fully present mind can shatter time and burst into Now.

I won't take no for an answer.

It is absolutely true that I have served in two Democratic administrations. You can tell something from me and my political views from that.

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely.

O the shame of it, the humiliating shame of being condescended to by dolts