You have to kill the bad guy.

My philosophy is very simple. To feel young, you must work as long as you can.

The audience wants to be attracted not by the critics, but by a great story. You must deliver to the audience emotion - and when I say emotion, I mean suspense, drama, love.

I see my face in the mirror, and I said, No, my ambition is not to be an actor.

When I cook, my brain stops completely.

After The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, the audience would like to know where, when, and who arrests Hannibal Lecter for the first time. This is the story of Red Dragon.

I realized the exciting place was behind the camera with the producer, director and so on.

I always say my age is connected with three Cs. In here, cuore, which means the heart. Up here, cervello, which is the brain. And, of course, down here: the coglioni. I no feel my age, I tell you.

If no producer, no movie.

Making movies is all about instinct.

If you get a book which is 600 pages, you have to reduce it to a script of 100 pages. In two hours of film, you cannot possibly include all the characters.

Exile is like death. You cannot understand it until it happens to you.

Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me.

Life is short and so is money.

I really want to move to a country where the poor people are fat.

But the rule seems to be that the bigger and more life-changing the decision, the less it will seem like a decision at all.

Arizona is now recognized as a premier place in which to locate, expand and grow a business.

I labored for eight years thinking that I was writing a book for adults that was a nostalgic look back on childhood. Then my publisher informed me I'd written a children's book.

I lived in a tiny Midwest town, so I was always looking for adventure.

Yours is only what you always have on you.

I think very often the boat-rockers turn out to be the people who are building the craft