You’re supposed to expand your mind to fit the art, you’re not supposed to chop the art down to fit your mind.

I think I'm good at amplifying an actor's strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses. And they all have strengths and weaknesses.

When a film like Chris Nolan's Memento cannot get picked up, to me independent film is over. It's dead.

To me the director’s job is to leave it in better shape than you found it, literally.

If you're sitting around thinking what other people think about your work, you'll just become paralysed.

We [people] are a species that's wired to tell stories. We need stories. It's how we make sense of things. It's how we learn.

I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating...anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us-I think this world would be unlivable without art and I thank you.

There are three major social issues that this country is struggling with: education, poverty, and drugs. Two of them we talk about, and one of them we don't.

What are the stories you want people to tell about you?

The ought to be a worldwide cultural taskforce that just stops you when you have ideas like combining The Red Desert with an armored car heist movie.

When things go right it's hard to figure out why, but when things go wrong it's really easy.

And a funeral, I found out, is like a wedding in reverse, with less time to plan.

Aspire to high standards, expect strong results, offer self praise, and stack your confidence.

Papa thought that any book worth reading twice was worth owning. So instead of buying desserts, we bought books.

The nature of the world is inherently obvious, if you remain in a state of total psycho-physical oneness with whatever and all that presently arises.

Folks think a lifetime is a thing stretched out over years. It ain't. It can happen quick as a match in a dark room.

The poet will write for his peers alone. He will remember only that he saw truth and beauty from his position, and expect the time when a vision as broad shall overlook the same field as freely.

London keeps me grounded. We don't get praised every time we open our gobs there.

Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants. Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?

Ah! what a divine religion might be found out if charity were really made the principle of it instead of faith.

Many people wants to be the president...they have ambition. Just ambition is not enough.