The most important thing about Olympics, of course, is the games and not the opening ceremony. It's weird the way it gets inverted sometimes.

It's a good place when all you have is hope and not expectations.

I grew up in a city, I'm a city person - I go on holiday and I'm bored.

There's lots of things that can be solved with cash.

I've just been to the Taj Mahal which I'd never been to and I'm not a very romantic kind of guy but it is the most romantic thing I've ever seen.

The sun is the most important thing in everybody's life, whether you're a plant, an animal or a fish, and we take it for granted.

I don't want people to sit there and objectively watch the film. I want them to experience it as something that's under their skin, so you try to make the films really tactile.

I want people to leave the cinema feeling that something's been confirmed for them about life.

If you have to be persuaded about something, you shouldn't do it.

I learned with 'The Beach' that I'm a bit better lower down the radar.

The awards season gives a chance for independent films to have a bit of longevity in the press and the media.

Being self-supporting is important to me.

My generation of director has no illusions that we are going to be fed and cared for by subsidized theater in America.

Anything can be said and, in consequence, written about anything.

Rivers are places that renew our spirit, connect us with our past, and link us directly with the flow and rhythm of the natural world.

I think once you sort of cross over and you realize what books can be - and if they mean something to you - there's just no stopping you.

Girls, to me, growing up were very, very petty and didn't want me to succeed and didn't want the best for me.

I hope I would leave a legacy of joy -a legacy of real compassion.

The only thing that could possibly save British politics would be Margaret Thatcher's assassin.

If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea.