I'm very sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman.

Paris is a place where, for me, just walking down a street that I've never been down before is like going to a movie.

I don't think any of us are normal people.

Anytime I make a movie, I really have absolutely no idea how it's going to go over. I've had the whole range of different kinds of reactions.

I don't really look for challenges as much as I like adventures. Other than that I'm just trying to find stories I want to tell.

The movies I make tend not to be quite reality but the characters are inspired by real people and they're always very personal.

You don't do background music the way a lot of more conventional films do. The music is often kind of a character in your films to the extent that sometimes you stop and watch someone perform a song.

I just want to make films that are personal, but interesting to an audience.

I wouldn't say that I'm particularly bothered or obsessed with detail.

I love working with actors. That's what the set really is, for me. It's my time with the actors.

Some of the ideas are kind of inspired by the songs, and I always want to use music to tell the story and give the movie a certain kind of mood. That's always essential to me.

The human tendency toward confirmatory thinking - all of us are bias to seek information that fits what we already believe.

When you feel least interested in following the Way which you have entered, this may be the time when it is most appropriate for you.

As long as you stay as a good hearted person, you will keep the innocence in your face.

My poems tend to be more celebratory and lyrical, and the novels so far pretty dark. Poetry doesn't seem to me to be an appropriate tool for exploring that.

I have always considered "Pascal's Wager" a questionable bet to place. Any God worth "believing in" would surely prefer an honest agnostic to a calculating hypocrite.

Lithium is like a beautiful lady, very much sought and pursued, especially in Bolivia. There is data indicating Bolivia has the largest reserves of lithium in the world.

Africa's agricultural sector has enormous scope for development, which would benefit both the continent's economy and its people.

Writers have a rare power not given to anyone else: we can bore people long after we are dead.

I'm insatiably curious about human nature. I feel very lucky that as a writer I get to learn so much about it just to do my job right.