I remember growing up with television, from the time it was just a test pattern, with maybe a little bit of programming once in a while.

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.

Faith is believing in something you know isn't true.

A problem becomes a problem only if you believe it to be so. And often others see you as you see yourself.

You seek up an emotion and your cup is overflowing, you seek up an emotion sometimes your well is dry

My confidence in the future of literature consists in the knowledge that there are things that only literature can give us, by means specific to it.

Faced with what seems like an impossible task, a group of folks will do well to remember the African proverb: When spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.

They say that lightning never strikes in the same place twice, but the same is not true for courage. As it turns out, when courage strikes, it almost always begets more courage.

I always say African American history is the quintessential American story. It's about perseverance and resilience - something everyone can relate to.

Everyone needs something to aim for. You can call it a challenge, or you can call it a goal. It is what makes us human. It was challenges that took us from being cavemen to reaching for the stars.

The United States must keep a low profile in Vietnam so we can negotiate its neutralization like we did in Laos .

Fans tend to get too excited by streaks of either kind and I think the press does too. There should be a happy medium.