I never understood the concept of showing everything in the trailer. Why go to a movie if there's no surprise? I can't do it like that.

I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.

There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.

I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.

I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.

It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work.

Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.

When you love something it's not a job anymore.

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.

Focus is central to everything you do, and where your focus goes, energy flows

We unlearn the art of speaking well when we cease to speak with God.

Don't sell life insurance. Sell what life insurance can do.

I used to prefer rapping over singing, but now I'm a little 50/50 about it. I like doing both, a lot - equally.

I've got a right to knock down anybody holding a bat.

You see, death is not the grave as many people think. It is another phenomenized form of life.

Any work that is not rooted in myth and poetry or that does not partake of the depth and essence of the universe is merely a ghost.

You should know the ins and outs [of the marriage]. So it was nice to see a little bit of background.

The mark of a good party is that you wake up the next morning wanting to change your name and start a new life in a different city.

Writing about racism requires a directness that writing a love story does not.