In order to be universal, you have to be rooted in your own culture.

I've often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it's inside a frame.

Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, 'Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.' That's not valid for people who want to think and reflect.

Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.

A movie is about human beings, about humanity.

In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

Good cinema is what we can believe and bad cinema is what we can't believe. What you see and believe in is very much what I'm interested in.

My way of expression is full of complications and mystery because that's my perception of life.

I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm just marketing my work!

I spend a lot of time doing carpentry. Sometimes there is nothing that gives me the contentment that sawing a piece of wood does.

The moment you put a deadline on your dream, it becomes a goal.

Critics in New York are made by their dislikes, not by their enthusiasms.

I fear very much for our kids, for low income people and for seniors.

I just always think, 'Do I like it?' And if I like it, maybe other people will come and like it too.

Live your life like you're exactly who Jesus thinks you are.

A very, very religious man. Every time I eat a peanut, I feel immortal.

The ratio between supervisory and producing personnel is always highest where the intellectuals are in power. In a Communist country it takes half the population to supervise the other half.

It's funny that people think because you don't have a movie or record out, you disappear into a frozen chamber someplace. They think you're dead when you're not in the public eye.

I’ve really turned a corner recently in terms of not taking work too seriously, so it is much easier for me to not take my work home.

Make love like you have no secrets like you've never been left never been hurt like the world don't owe you a single wretched thing.