A cigarette in the hands of a Hollywood star onscreen is a gun aimed at a 12- or 14-year-old.

I have always been fascinated by the corruption of power.

I have only one loyalty - to my writing. I never wanted to be the head of a studio or a producer.

That's sort of what I felt... I miss drinking, I thought bars were truly holy places.

Cigarettes are not a part of human behaviour, they are a habit.

The studios have been taken over by marketing people and accountants.

Let's make Joe Lieberman accountable for his rhetoric. Not a penny more until he 'clarifies' his position to the satisfaction of our creative freedom.

Politics has become entertainment.

I worry that we are approaching a time when that which is shocking is squeezed out by the Stalinism of political correctness.

My father could have been deported because on his immigration application he said that he was a printer, obviously because he didn't want them to be checking his writings.

I have my own religious bond with the God in my own head.

I mean, if you're asking a fellow to come out of a room so that you can dismember him with a carving knife, it's absurd to tack a 'sir' on to every sentence. The two things don't go together.

The lonesome and desperate kids out there, that pain will translate to magic perhaps.

My speaking is meant to shake you awake, not to tell you how to dream better.

I've never done anything because I thought it would look cool.

In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart.

Film is like a drug. It is a shelter when you cannot deal with reality.

Writing in a nuanced way, getting at all the details in a way that remains interesting for the reader, is very difficult.

At certain times you really feel as though you have to do something.

There are entire congregations who worship praise and praise worship but who have not yet learned to praise and worship God in Jesus Christ.

Energy is so important. If you don't have it, don't bother with rock and roll.