I don't like television and movies where it's like, "Well, that was entertaining, but when I think back on it, that didn't really make sense and it's empty." That's like junk food, to me.

The one thing you can do that the audience can't do - all those smart people online in the chat rooms can't do - is deliver a satisfying emotional journey for a human being, for a character.

Let's make really good stories that people get something out of. That's the one common denominator with everything I try to do.

I love films where I'm looking around the world a little different now that I've seen that. I want something that nourishes my view of the world.

I like projects that are entertaining, where I'm emotionally engaged and there's something to think about afterwards.

The challenge is creating a character that's rich and interesting to warrant following for a number of years.

If my whole game depends on whether you can guess the ending or not, I'm done, forget it.

Usually monsters are some aspect of human behavior or humanity at large.

If people walk out of the movie and they think about it, then that's quite something.

The beauty of a really good movie is that it's a whole world, complete in an hour and a half or two hours.

It sounds corny, but I think people need stories to process the world. That's our business. That's the job we're in. We tell stories.

We look into each other's eyes as we shake. His are still full of death and horror, but in them I see my face reflected, and inside my tiny eyes inside his, I think I see some hope.

When you can no longer differentiate between the insanity spewed onto the blank page, and the madness evident in the all-but shattered mirror...that's when you know you're doing it right.

Your Writing Teacher ‏@WritingChiefIf u don't get ur protagonist dirty, ur readers will get bored. Readers are wild, cliff-jumping, mud-wrestling savages. Become their leader. (anonymous on Twitter)

I don't want any title. I just say what I say, and hopefully somebody gets it, man. I'm not perfect, and I'm just here and trying to make a dollar, and being real at the same time, you know?

Choose your friends wisely, and also choose friends that you can trust.

The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know.

Where there is a mind, there are feelings such as pain, pleasure, and joy. No sentient being wants pain: all wants happiness instead.

Two years were all we had, love," she whispered, "and we squandered them.

[Politicians] - they'll give you everything you want to your face - and then, as you walk away, they'll shoot you in the back because it's fun to watch you die.

With everything that happens to you, with everyone you meet who is important to you, you either die a little or are born.