...reality, however utopian, is something from which people feel the need of taking pretty frequent holidays....

One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.

Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.

Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.

No social stability without individual stability.

Back to culture. Yes, actually to culture. You can’t consume much if you sit still and read books.

If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.

I want to know what passion is. I want to feel something strongly.

One of the principal functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder and symbolic form) the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies.

The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray.

De Sade is the one completely consistent and thoroughgoing revolutionary of history.

Every great novel begins with a single word. One word, followed by another and another and another. Sentences forming paths to that dream.

Write about fear. Write about pain. Write about heartache and resentment. Nothing worth reading comes from writing what can be said out loud.

There is no respect of persons with God.

The way you build trust with your people is by being forthright and clear with them from day one. You may think people are fooled when you tell them what they want to hear. They are not fooled.

I am worth some study, if for no one else but myself. I hope that you feel likewise... even if only about yourself.

She supposed that all those years of loving a person who was dishonest had taught her a few things.

You control the doorway to your mind.

My study of religion, which I regard in many ways as an art form, is a search for meaning.

I didn't have any hair anywhere for almost seven months. So now finally I've got some hair, I'm gonna keep it.

Directing is the ultimate way to bring together all the art forms I've been involved with over the years.