We’ve gone through the names—Negro, African American, African, Black. For me that’s an indication of a people still trying to find their identity. Who determines what is black?

I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.

There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.

I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.

I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.

It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work.

Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.

When you love something it's not a job anymore.

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.

Nothing in life was as ugly as death.

She liked the way the words sounded. She imagined them floating above her in a comic-strip bubble

Remember to take in and harvest light yet also allow yourself to cast shadows where needed, like a tree. Then, in return, your shadow will support your light.

How good is good enough, since you are only good for your selfishness.

You're always kind of shifting and changing and it's a really exciting process.

They often say, "What's the point in astrology if you can't change your destiny?" Well, it's true that you can't change your destiny, but still it helps knowing about gravity.

I was a scholarship minor public school day boy at Ardingly College and later Whitgift School. Then, straight into work as a journalist - a wonderful thing for a writer.

I don't like the actors to work together beforehand. I trust my intuition, and I like when the actors are the same.

No one ever reads a book. He reads himself through books.

The smallest sprout shows there is really no death.