I'm very proud of my flops, as much as of my successes.

I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.

When I was about 9, I had polio, and people were very frightened for their children, so you tended to be isolated. I was paralyzed for a while, so I watched television.

An essential element of any art is risk. If you don't take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn't been seen before?

I used to love going into local hardware stores, to look at little things they made locally. Nowadays it's harder, though you can still do it in Vietnam.

I had an older brother who was very interested in literature, so I had an early exposure to literature, and and theater. My father sometimes would work in musical comedies.

There's nothing creative about living within your means.

Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.

You don't have to specialize - do everything that you love and then, at some time, the future will come together for you in some form.

If the movie works, nobody notices the mistakes... If the movie doesn't work, the only thing people notice are mistakes.

Confound the subtlety of lawyers with the subtlety of the law.

I met Steve Jobs once. In '06? He had a sense of humor.

I might believe in the Redeemer if his followers looked more redeemed.

[Capitalism is] that commercial system in which supply immediately answers to demand, and in which everybody seems to be thoroughly dissatisfied and unable to get anything he wants.

In my experience an appreciative letter from a fellow writer means a lot.

Isolated and limited vision problem.

The laws of circumstance are abolished by new circumstances.

If somebody asks, "What is a dance?" how can you define it? But you can dance and you can know the inner feel of it.

Better rooms better furniture, better objects d'art can only be created for a society interested in living - not existing.

I'm a perfectionist I guess. Everyone has to love me.