One thing I'm most proud of, in my movies, is that I think the performances are super-strong, but that's not all me. I think part of it is casting appropriately.

I like movies that are about real people in real time with real problems.

It really shocks me when I encounter people who think kindness doesn't matter. Because I think it's pretty much the only thing that matters.

In college, you're kind of designing who you want to be. And I wanted to be a big reader.

I kicked college nostalgia in my late 20s. As much as I loved college and treasure the memories, I no longer want to go back.

I care about reading, a lot. It's a big part of my life.

Even though I occasionally appear on it, I don't watch television.

Kindness is not about instant gratification. More often, it's akin to a low-risk investment that appreciates steadily over time.

Film allows me to ask some really big questions with the time to explore them deeply. I love the form.

I actually have a thing about proper nouns. They clang on my ear in a weird way when I hear them dropped into movies.

All of the things I used to obsess over, I'm no longer as obsessed with. I have new concerns but they're a little more existential or cosmic.

Turn down things that are in consistence with your priorities.

Debriefing-style counseling after a trauma often aggravates a victim's stress-related symptoms, for example, and 4 in 10 bereaved people do better without grief therapy.

I am not aspiring to be a senior bureaucrat. It would limit my freedom.

You know, there's a great saying in Texas - you've all heard it - "all hat and no cattle." Well, after seven years of George Bush, we need a lot less hat and a lot more cattle.

If she wasn't your grandmother I'd shoot her." Ranger

You will never become rich, until you hate poverty

Smile at each other. Smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other- it doesn't matter who it is- and that will help to grow up in greater love for each other.

He who cannot eat horsemeat need not do so. Let him eat pork. But he who cannot eat pork, let him eat horsemeat. It's simply a question of taste.