So with 'There Will Be Blood,' I didn't even really feel like I was adapting a book. I was just desperate to find stuff to write.

My older sister was at the cusp of new wave, and I had older brothers from my father's first marriage who were rock 'n' roll guys, so I was exposed to a lot of popular culture.

Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.

I'll rebel against powers and principalities, all the time. Always, I will.

Acting is the hardest job in the entire world. By far. Harder than ditch digging.

It's a gamble you take, the risk of alienating an audience. But there's a theory - sometimes it's better to confuse them for five minutes than let them get ahead of you for 10 seconds.

My dad was this sort of avant-garde guy who did all kinds of weird things. He was a true original and anybody who met him never forgot him.

I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can't really do that fast.

My writing has a lot to do with who I am, and what my life is like, and my relationships to people.

You write who you are. But you also cheat, and youwrite what you want to be. It's embarrasing to be the guy who madethe movie, knowing you're not exactly who you want to be.

Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.

Many people may be heartbroken, but not enough to take action.

Love should not have limits but you have to know that our actions have consequences.

I have tried to fight the impulse, the attraction, but my defenses crumble every time I see him. Since my divorce from Hank I'm practically love-starved.

Never economize on the small luxuries of life. Drinking fine wine and eating chocolate won't solve your problems - but they won't hurt either.

I have nothing but respect for the purist who won't work for the pharaoh. But I'm not that strong.

Your future and mine are determined by this one thing: seeking after the Lord.

I like 'X Factor' as much as the next person, but I do get overwhelmed with the amount of reality TV. It's such cheap programming and such a load of rubbish, most of it.

Too often our leaders cannot work for the greater good because they acknowledge no good greater than politics. But if that's truly our prime directive and highest imperative, God help us all.

We can't have a decent government unless those in power exercise self restraint.

I gravitate towards happy music. I love the Beach Boys.