I never believe I'm presenting objective reality; I also don't want to delude people into thinking that my subject is talking directly to them.

I felt like the universe was tapping me on the shoulder saying, "You're the guy who has to tell this story because nobody else is."

Life is much more complex than the black-and-white sound bites that you get on television. There are nuances and shades of gray.

You have to remain open to the situation that you're filming otherwise you might miss the story.

What you hope, what you're trusting the filmmaker to do, is to capture the emotional truth of the situation.

If people spend two hours thinking about the direction of their own lives and can relate to the stories they see on screen, to me that's a success.

Any documentary; any capturing of a non-fiction event, is a hyper-realistic condensation of reality that hopefully reveals an emotional truth. It's never the actual literal truth of an event.

I'm a filmmaker who is known for these ambiguous portraits that tell multiple sides of the story without really telling the audience what to think.

The filmmaker is not telling you what to think.

If a concert film is an experience of the musicianship without critiquing it, then this, too, is dropping you into a world and letting you experience it.

I'm an observer in life, not a participant. That's why I'm a documentarian who looks through a camera. I'm not a touchy-feely person; I'm not a seminar person.

The difficulty in life is the choice.

I don't take a dime of their [lobbyist] money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House.

One of the great things about building a tech company is the amazing people that you can hire.

If Lincoln had an affair with a slave woman, it would be an outrage, but when Clinton does it with one of his staff, everyone is okay with it.

I would rather be first in a little Iberian village than second in Rome.

I left Beijing in 1987, shortly before my books were banned there, but have returned continually.

Actors are always a little high at work. Acting is their drug. So when you put the brakes on, they're naturally a little disappointed.

I was ill before I fell ill.

Reaching out to rescue one another under ANY condition is an eternal measure of love.

Be kind to yourself as you proceed along this journey. This kindness, in itself, is a means of awakening the spark of love within you and helping others to discover that spark within themselves.