I was making films when I was about 12 years old - Super-8 films.

In Finland, getting a university degree is the first thing that you expect your kids to do.

It proved to be pretty impossible to get funds for a feature film in Finland. It's still small, but the film industry was miniscule at that point in the early '80s.

I did some film reviews for small papers in Finland and things like that to be able to keep living here.

I loved movies and went to see every movie I could in Finland.

Eventually, in '84, we made a film for a little over a million dollars - with American actors that was shot in English - that was shown in Finland A little action film called Born American.

You just never give up, no matter how hard the challenges are, and observe this world with a healthy dose of criticism and don't just follow the herd like somebody else might do.

I went out to some advertising agencies and asked if I could do anything.

I loved cutting together simple commercials about margarine or soft drinks - all kinds of silly products - but I tried to make the commercials different.

I became a real Shell Motor Oil expert, and I did this 25-minute film. It turned out really well and, as a result, they offered me more work and lots of commercials to direct.

I feel like I learned very early on that your heroes are only as powerful as your villains. And I'm attracted to intelligent villains.

All Nature wears one universal grin.

No, no, " said Taran slowly, "It would be folly to think of attacking them." He smiled quickly at Fflewddur. "The bards would sing of us, " he admitted, "but we'd be in no position to appreciate it.

I am a bed of sparks you breathe upon and kindle

You tried to drink the East River,"Magnus said, and Alec saw, as if for the first time, that Magnus's clothes were soaking wet too, sticking to his body like a dark second skin.

Life isn't like a book. Life isn't logical or sensible or orderly. Life is a mess most of the time. And theology must be lived in the midst of that mess.

Anyone who is in love is making love the whole time, even when they're not.

Everything is gestation and then birthing.

Lou Brock was a great base stealer but today I am the greatest.

Men who write love letters don't live in this century.

Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust authority to a person who has shown judgement, wisdom, personal appeal, and proven competence.