You're dealing with the body, and you're dealing with bodily functions. We romanticize everything about people in movies.

You are what you love. Not what loves you.

I think of myself as a guy who tries to write screenplays and now has tried to direct one. Anything more than that is meaningless and it gets in the way of being a real human being.

I do like escapism. I like going to the movies on a Friday night and seeing something fun.

The only honest and generous thing for me to do is to give people myself. That's all I've got as an artist, so I want to do that in an unflinching way.

The passionate ones, the ones who go after what they want, may not get what they want, but they remain vital, in touch with themselves, and when they lie on their deathbeds, they have few regrets.

Everything I've written is personal - it's the only way I know how to write.

You and I share the same DNA. Is there anything more lonely than that?

Why do I fall in love with every woman I see that shows me the least bit of attention?

Clementine: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon. Joel: I know. Clementine: What do we do? Joel: Enjoy it.

There are nearly thirteen million people in the world. None of those people is an extra. They're all the leads of their own stories. They have to be given their due.

Be willing to constantly travel towards the dreams of your future and don’t be afraid to give up the good for the great.

Failure starts a future success, if you become better.

If it is not an interesting picture when in focus, it is not going to be a better picture out of focus.

I think Andy Kaufman is to comedy what the Velvet Underground was to music - it's like, 80 thousand records sold, but everybody who bought one started a band.

Acquisition of skills requires a regular environment, an adequate opportunity to practice, and rapid and unequivocal feedback about the correctness of thoughts and actions.

For a Christian, Jesus is the unique and only way that God has fully revealed himself. For a Jew this cannot be.

I like a calm life where nobody bothers me.

You told me it was a mistake to fight the scarred warriors. They were the survivors.

A lot of good things start in Virginia; a lot of good things have started in Virginia. We're no strangers to firsts.

Don't flail against the world, use it. Flexibility is the operative principle in the art of war.