We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.

One difference between film noir and more straightforward crime pictures is that noir is more open to human flaws and likes to embed them in twisty plot lines.

To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts.

You can have a movie with hardly any cuts, or very few cuts, that is fascinating, you can't take your eyes away from it... Look at some of the long takes in Citizen Kane.

I lost faith in the Oscars the first year I was a movie critic - the year that Bonnie and Clyde didn't win.

I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.

I think we have to get beyond the idea that we have to categorize people.

What every human being should do is eat a vegetarian diet based on whole foods. Period. That's it. Animal protein is bad for you. Dairy is bad for you. Forget the ads: Milk and eggs are bad for you.

I do not fear death. I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear.

I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?

War hath no fury like a noncombatant.

But what is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a man's freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. That and nothing else.

Big Sur is at the end of the continent. It attracts really crazy people.

Motor cut. Forced landing. Hit cow. Cow died. Scared me.

He that knows nothing doubts nothing.

I'd love to live in New Orleans. I love the freedom of it - for good and for bad.

"Tell em keep my name out they mouth cuz they dont know me"

Patience is important, and also, if you don't want to do it, don't do it. But if you do, do. That's a general rule in how I live my life.

Happiness is to have a little string onto which things will attach themselves.