It's quite rare that you make something and think that you did something that no-one else had done.

Horror films don't create fear. They release it.

I like to address the fears of my culture. I believe it's good to face the enemy, for the enemy is fear.

The first monster that an audience has to be scared of is the filmmaker. They have to feel in the presence of someone not confined by the normal rules of propriety and decency.

The first monster you have to scare the audience with is yourself.

I think the important thing about staying creative and staying sharp and original is not to look back too much.

All of us have our individual curses, something that we are uncomfortable with and something that we have to deal with, like me making horror films, perhaps.

As long as you keep the audience on the edge of their seats, either scare them or keep them guessing, you can put anything in there that you want.

I believe the cinema is one of our principal forms of art. It is an incredibly powerful way to tell uplifitng stories that can move people to cry with joy and inspire them to reach for the stars.

If you think it, the camera will see it.

I have a lot of fans who are people of color. I think, if nothing else, I kind of understand that sense of being on the outside looking in, culturally.

We must forget in order to remain present, forget in order not to die, forget in order to remain faithful.

Woven into our lives is the very fire from the stars and genes from the sea creatures, and everyone, utterly everyone, is kin in the radiant tapestry of being.

Sacred life.

There is honey in this land sweeter than any I know of, and I have cut cane in places where the dirt itself tasted like sugar, so that's saying a heap.

The Ten Commandments have lost their validity...Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish like circumcision.

I believe there's something in the Bible about 'Thou shalt not call anyone insane who owns and is competent with more firearms than you own sharp sticks.'

The past doesn't have anything to do with the future, only if you let it.

I think my friend Tom Hanks knows me. He understands me very well. He’s always had a sort of parental feeling toward me. He knows I’m a big mush ball, which is just part of my personality.

This precious life is our opportunity. We are not the millions and millions of other things that are not human.