It's become very popular in contemporary films to have the twist ending.

Through readiness and discipline, we are the masters of our fate.

When you start out as a filmmaker, you do parodies, because you can't really compete on a studio level.

I didn't have a normal background - I was completely demented from a very early age!

Stop your grinnin and drop your linen

Howdy. I'm gonna separate your head from your shoulders. Hope you don't mind none.

You don't really get to pick and chose what you would like to be doing. But I've been very fortunate, and I think water seeks its own level. You do gravitate towards things that you would get off on.

I hate tests. It's a really lousy way to judge a person's ability.

I've always loved movies about con men. I think con men are as American as apple pie.

It's always good to have no expectations when you see a film. Then you can be pleasantly disappointed or surprised.

We mystify the art of moviemaking, but it's not amystical science. You take a good screenplay, put a group togetherand you hammer it out.

Faith is the only belief which remains alive between heaven and hell.

The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.

How do you develop your psychic abilities? Well, to begin with, naturally, you have to want to and believe that it is possible.

I feel like saying 'Damn the Law.'

To put it as simply as possible - and this is a simple answer, not a total answer - I know when a painting's finished when I understand why I wanted to do it in the first place.

What is the value of sticking a microphone in a man's face right after he has learned of his wife's death?

I'm probably much more influenced by film-makers and painters than I am by other songwriters or poets.

If little labour, little are our gains: Man's fortunes are according to his pains.

ll I can think about, every day, every waking minute since they drew Prim's name at the reaping, is how afraid I am.

Once I asked Teichman what he thought of Bird's chess: "Same as his health," he replied, "always alternating between being dangerously ill and dangerously well."