Never say no to an idea - you never know how that idea will ignite another idea.

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.

The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good.

I do not always know what I want, but I do know what I don't want.

You're an idealist, and I pity you as I would the village idiot.

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.

Be suspicious of people who have, or crave, power. Never, ever go near power. Don't become friends with anyone who has real power. It's dangerous.

The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning.

Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but the best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.

There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.'No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.

My goal is that Julie and Brody do not become the other's half. They should be two wholes that become a greater one. That is the only way to overcome evil in the end.

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?""That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.""I don't much care where –""Then it doesn't matter which way you go.

I really believe I'm right. So, tell me, where am I wrong?

I rolled my eyes so far into the top of my head I almost fell over backward.

I mean, accidents happen. You learn from them and you try to make sure they don't happen again.

You go to school to figure out who you want to be and how you can do it, and [maybe] I should have, because the films would probably be technically better.

America's cultural table is set by the people living in the three bubbles - New York Washington D.C. and Hollywood.

Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence.

And, if you love me, as I think you do, let's kiss and part, for we have much to do