I think the problem with growing up and idealizing self-destructive artists is that you only see the beauty they created rather than all the pain that went along with it.

We would go down to Riverside, California, which is very poor now, but that's where my grandfather grew up. He grew up during the Depression in Riverside.

I didn't know the city at all, but I was so happy to be in New York I cried. I was so excited.

I like movies about women behaving badly, because women behave badly just like men, and we're not always adorable and cute about it.

You keep learning how to let go and to live the life that you actually have, as opposed to the life you thought you were going to have.

I've never had a plan, I've always done things from instinct.

I like things that look like mistakes.

Let your characters talk to each other and do things. Spend time with them - they'll tell you who they are and what they're up to.

I’m not saying that everyone needs to be celibate, but you don’t need a romance to complete a story about a woman

I feel like most people aren't either/or, they're both/and. You're both magnanimous and petty. You're both kind and cruel. You're never just one thing.

I had dreams, but I didn't have the sense that they would necessarily work out. They seemed very far-fetched.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

A life-long mission has been to counter the notion that political engagement is the spinach we must eat in order to have the dessert of freedom.

It is a good thing to happen to you, to have that taste of fame because then you don't hanker for it.

If anything in this life is certain...if history has taught us anything, it's that you cn kill anyone.

I'm often very relaxed when I'm on the wire.

A man who doles out sweets, and slaps, with the same hand.

It is a massive, undeniable failure and a heap of broken promises.

What drives me is I love my profession. I love to do it.

But the only possible guarantee of the future is responsible behavior in the present.

Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.