Lots of people have criticized my movies, but nobody has ever identified the real problem: I'm a sloppy filmmaker.

I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.

When I was about 9, I had polio, and people were very frightened for their children, so you tended to be isolated. I was paralyzed for a while, so I watched television.

An essential element of any art is risk. If you don't take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn't been seen before?

I used to love going into local hardware stores, to look at little things they made locally. Nowadays it's harder, though you can still do it in Vietnam.

I had an older brother who was very interested in literature, so I had an early exposure to literature, and and theater. My father sometimes would work in musical comedies.

There's nothing creative about living within your means.

Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.

You don't have to specialize - do everything that you love and then, at some time, the future will come together for you in some form.

If the movie works, nobody notices the mistakes... If the movie doesn't work, the only thing people notice are mistakes.

Jason decided there was nothing in the world scarier than a gang of bat-wielding grannies.

At the end of every challenge comes success. No level of struggle can outlast a mind that vows to never quit when things get rough and tough.

Fighting fire with fire only gets you ashes!

Karate is for life, not points.

...it all, maybe, most likely, indeed, might turn out for the best.

Somebody said they threw their copy of Dungeons and Dragons into the fire, and it screamed. It's a game! The magic spells in it are as real as the gold. Try retiring on that stuff.

It is mostly a matter of wills. Whose will is going to break first? Ours or the enemy's?

The hatred you're carrying is a live coal in your heart - far more damaging to yourself than to them.

The Monkees are to the Beatles what 'Star Trek' is to NASA. They are both totally valid in their contexts.

You put a big bird in a small cage, it'll sing you a song