Perhaps the most difficult thing is shooting scenes set 6,000 feet up in the mountains of Mexico.

Everyone has seen photographs of Mexicans wearing those big sombreros. When you come to Mexico, the astonishing thing is, nobody wears these hats at all.

When I was 24 I went to Nigeria and it was such a culture shock, growing up in Australia and suddenly being the only white man in this unit full of black men.

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

In Australia, they set up a special fund to kick films off. It was quite an enlightened sort of move. You could go to this government bureau with scripts and and get finance for films.

There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.

With a film, I do my best to understand the author's intentions and try to bring the characters to life.

Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.

The music of the most popular operas is so highly esteemed, it can stand endless revivals.

It's not enough to hit the notes. There is no point in the singers just standing there and sounding wonderful if they're not connecting with the characters they are portraying.

On stage, the audience watches from a fixed viewpoint and the director cannot retake something he doesn't like. It has to work straight through.

Great goals make great people. People cannot hit what they do not aim for.

I bring you with reverent handsThe books of my numberless dreams.

When I think about books, I touch my shelf.

The righteous shall rejoice.

A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.

If one studies too zealously, one easily loses his pants.

Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins.

For Christ plays in ten thousand places,/ Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his/ To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

Oh, to be in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware.

Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If they are not there the first time you need them, chances are you won't be needing them again.