I think that this necessity to travel, to see, it's part of human nature.

In Cuba and specifically in Havana there's a sort of energy that turns every situation into something unexpected.

Trips are part of humanity. Emigration is a part of humanity. And it's ever more dynamic due to globalization.

I don't think that the reality of Cuba is perfect, but it doesn't cleave to the negativity, either, with which some people see it.

Cuban public is special - they participate, generate a lot of energy, both in a positive and negative sense. It's always an expressive audience.

The base of artistic pursuit is ambivalence and complexity. And that's what I try to do.

What is happiness to me is not necessarily for you. Someone once said, there are three truths: your truth, my truth and the truth. And I think that's true.

It's true that in Cuba there are double standards, there's opportunism, and there is a lack of freedom in some ways.

The magic of film isn't just because of the big screen, or the acoustics, but the ineffable shared experience of going to the movies.

The Cuban public is hugely cinephile. It's a shame that most of the movie theaters are so deteriorated. The sense of spectacle has been lost a little, but even so, people continue to go.

In all of my movies I've tried to address the need for man - not just Cubans - to have a dream and to fight for that dream, even when he doesn't achieve it. It's a form of happiness.

Let us be kind. It is the simplest way to touch someone's heart.

We need a backbone, not a wishbone.

Is it better for a woman to marry a man who loves her than a man she loves.

If you just look at the data, you are led to believe that things are getting better, rather than worse. That's why the fall is really precipitous, once you hit the ceiling.

The worst piece of advice I've gotten in my whole career is from somebody who said, Remember, it's all about likeability.

What's been great about the human race gives you a sense of how great you might get, how far you can reach.

Principles are a dangerous form of social dynamite.

You can probably ask my husband, and he might tell you differently, but I feel very much like I'm kind of cautious in my real life.

Mathematics is not a language, it's an adventure

Maybe I don't believe things myself, as well. Truth is such a transient thing...