The thing about TV is it's a meritocracy. I love that aspect of it - and I've had shows that have gone on the air and been canceled. I've seen the good and the bad of it.

That's why 'The Bourne Identity' has that sort of shaky style, because for the most part, Matt Damon and I were sneaking around Paris and shooting where we didn't have permits.

At the end of the day, it's still a show about guys who ride extremely fast motorcycles for a living.

I can't impress people with the pedigree of obscure French filmmakers that got me into film. It was Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. I really thought I wanted to make dumb action movies.

In movies, you can basically buy the audience into the theater. If you spend enough money on visual effects, even if you are lacking in story and character, you might still pull it off.

To be a lone filmmaker thousands of miles from home with nobody believing in me, that seems romantic.

I make movies for me and posterity. I'm more scared of history than I am of the studio.

If you do something that's really original, you discover why everybody else does it the other way, usually. There's a reason cliches exist, 'cause they work.

It's no secret that my process is a little bit loose and can be a little bit infuriating to a studio if they don't know what they're signing up for.

When I was shooting 'The Bourne Identity,' I had a mantra: 'How come you never see James Bond pay a phone bill?' It sounds trite, but it became the foundation of that franchise.

I probably shouldn't treat interviews as therapy sessions, but I don't keep a diary, so these end up being my way of keeping track of where I'm at and letting it all out.

Wolves travel in packs, not in herds.

Fire and paper - they do not mix well, n'est pas?""Perhaps they mix too well.

It was the joy of admiration and of one's own ability, growing together.

The abolition of the death penalty is making us a civilized society. It shows we actually do mean business when we say we have reverence for life.

The movies are funny, in one way, because you think of everyone being as beautiful as the dawn, but that isn't true.

Opportunity is never lost... it simply moves on to someone else if you don't seize it!

You don't need to go to a therapist, you don't need to do all kinds of things. If you want to write, you physically have to do it.

Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.

I sit in my new room and write everything down. My heart never stops talking.

It is in the intellectual and emotional response, the conscious and subconscious associations of the artist, that the potential power of painting lies.