Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.

Everyone has seen photographs of Mexicans wearing those big sombreros. When you come to Mexico, the astonishing thing is, nobody wears these hats at all.

When I was 24 I went to Nigeria and it was such a culture shock, growing up in Australia and suddenly being the only white man in this unit full of black men.

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

In Australia, they set up a special fund to kick films off. It was quite an enlightened sort of move. You could go to this government bureau with scripts and and get finance for films.

There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.

With a film, I do my best to understand the author's intentions and try to bring the characters to life.

The music of the most popular operas is so highly esteemed, it can stand endless revivals.

It's not enough to hit the notes. There is no point in the singers just standing there and sounding wonderful if they're not connecting with the characters they are portraying.

On stage, the audience watches from a fixed viewpoint and the director cannot retake something he doesn't like. It has to work straight through.

Directing an opera is similar to directing a play. The singing must not get in the way of the drama.

The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak.

She was waiting, but she didn't know for what. She was aware only of her solitude, and of the penetrating cold, and of a greater weight in the region of her heart.

In this room I grew.So many lessons I learnedOpportunities I gainedCriticisms I gracefully enduredIn this room, I made my mark".

My insides fluttered, sending curls of heat through my stomach and shivers all the way down my spine. So, this was what it was like to kiss someone.....and mean it.

Our differences should not be exaggerated.

If you want to make something dirt cheap, make it out of dirt–preferably dirt that is locally sourced.

Daily life is more instructive than the most effective book.

Good impro can make you laugh, we love it, but soon the content is forgotten. Good scenes from The Life Game stay with you always. They haunt you.

Love is the history of a woman's life; it is an episode in man's. [Fr., L'amour est l'histoire de la vie des femmes; c'est un episode dans celle des hommes.]

Civilizations should be measured by the degree of diversity attained and the degree of unity retained.