I feel more in touch with the world when I'm filming.

I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.

I think my dyslexia was a vital part of my development because my inability to read and write meant that I had to find knowledge elsewhere so I looked to the cinema.

I see the job of directing as being one of creating the right atmosphere, creating an environment where people can realize their full potential.

Every time I make a film, I feel it gives me the chance to learn something new.

Fairy tales to me are never happy, sweet stories. They're moral stories about overcoming the dark side and the bad.

Modern, not bottom-dwelling literature like a carp.

I was known for a while for doing very long takes, especially after Atonement.

I don't make a division between an art film and commercial art.

Generally, I've never known quite how to fit in in civilian life, but on set, making a film, I know exactly where to go, how to behave and how I fit.

I like the idea of doing something outside my comfort zone.

Come then, put away your sword in its sheath, and let us two go up into my bed so that, lying together in the bed of love, we may then have faith and trust in each other.

The pursuit of truth, not of facts, is the business of fiction.

Take responsibility and go to work so God has something to help us with.

Free will is located in or near the anterior cingulate sulcus.

I can't stand still; I find it very difficult to sit around and do nothing. I've got to have projects on the go because the devil makes work for idle hands. I've got to be going forward all the time.

People always overestimate how complex business is. This isn't rocket science. We've chosen one of the world's simplest professions.

There's a lot of negative things trying to pull people down, and I think people respond when you tell them that hey, there are good things up ahead.

Business owners have made a strong case to me that they need guest workers. But none has suggested that these workers should be placed on a path to citizenship.

leisure is an attitude of mind, not simply remission of work.

having too many ideas is not always a good thing.