I've always believed that if you want to really try and make a great film, not a good film, but a great film, you have to take a lot of risks.

I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still there. (Leonard Shelby, Memento)

I always thought the joy of reading a book is not knowing what happens next. (Leonard Shelby, Memento)

You're never going to learn something as profoundly as when it's purely out of curiosity

A camera is a camera, a shot is a shot, how you tell the story is the main thing.

I like films that continue to spin your head in all sorts of different directions after you've seen them.

You musn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

One of the things you do as a writer and as a filmmaker is grasp for resonant symbols and imagery without necessarily fully understanding it yourself.

Every film should have its own world, a logic and feel to it that expands beyond the exact image that the audience is seeing.

Every great story deserves a great ending

I've been fascinated by dreams my whole life, since I was a kid, and I think the relationship between movies and dreams is something that's always interested me.

Maybe if we stopped trying to achieve movie standards of greatness, we'd be happy with what we have.

All that is required of you is an open mind and a little patience.

A wealth you cannot imagineflows through you.Do not consider what strangers say.Be secluded in your secret heart-house, that bowl of silence.

If I had a wish, I would turn you to a pair of shoes to keep you under my feet and you get an opportunity to be under the bed too.

For me, all the materials and objects I employ come from a specific space that's very personal.

I am all that there is of the most real.

There is a terrible emptiness in me, an indifference that hurts.

Normality is to be different. Every person is a different person. And one day you need to be aware of your difference. Aware that you are not the same as the others. That is to be normal.

The movies I usually do are maybe three or four weeks because they don't have a lot of money.

Sometimes I park in handicap spaces while handicapped people make handicapped faces.