I've never read Joseph Campbell, and I don't know all that much about story archetypes.

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 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.

He wasn't mine anywhere except in my heart.

If you can pick the baby up without him squirting our of your hands like a bar of soap in the shower, he's not oiled up enough.

Those straight-spined parishioners could justify their exhibitionism by telling themselves that they were setting an example, even educating the rest of us.

I waste every breathe of my life trying to be the best nobody has ever been.

Never wear anything that panics the cat.

This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

And I took a long time to appreciate Lynch.

I think Detroit would do real well if we started repopulating it with young, aspirational people.

I love the ups and downs and the eccentricities of my career. The worst movies have produced some of the best friendships.

If I had to choose, it would be dancing. Dancing is my first passion and it's gotten me where I am today.