I don't think my films are going to get rid of racism or prejudice. I think the best thing my films can do is provoke discussion.

I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.

There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.

I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.

I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.

It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work.

Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.

When you love something it's not a job anymore.

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.

Nothing is impossible because the only obstacle is you

Older doesn't always mean wiser. It just means that you've had more time to do the same things over and over again- right, wrong, and different.

Truth is so good a thing that falsehood can not afford to be without it.

In the end, my love for surfing helped me overcome my fear of sharks.

Love yourself and don't settle for less than what you deserve.

Jesus-murdered. Martin Luther King-murdered. Gandhi-murdered. Malcolm X-murdered. Reagan-wounded.

Before Cliff (Richard) and The Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music.

Learn the craft of knowing how to open your heart and to turn on your creativity. There's a light inside of you.

To hunger for use and to go unused is the worst hunger of all.

You would not have the wisdom and knowledge you now possess were it not for the setbacks you have faced, the mistakes you have made and the suffering you have endured.