I grew up in a tough neighborhood and we used to say you can get further with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word.

Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills.

The Oscars demonstrate the will of the people to control and judge those they have elected to stand above them (much, perhaps, as in bygone days, an election celebrated the same).

Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?"

When the three branches of government have failed to represent the citizenry and the mass of the media has failed to represent the citizenry, then the citizenry better represent the citizenry.

Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.

It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.

Opportunity may knock, but it seldom nags.

We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.

People may or may not say what they mean... but they always say something designed to get what they want.

Being a writer in Hollywood is like going to Hitler's Eagle Nest with a great idea for a bar mitzvah.

Do not wait for an opportunity to be all that you want to be.

Gangs have had connections to the U.S. Military in every period since the founding of the country.

I was a wonderful parent before I had children.

Some people don't do well simply because they don't feel well.

All you have to do is be a little bit specific, and all of a sudden, you have your own little niche and people are going to watch.

I don't wear the see-through shirts or anything too glittery. I come from that '90s school of rap. Fitted caps, because I got a big head, so snapbacks don't fit me right.

Leaders will have to give clear and decisive leadership towards a world of tolerance and respect for difference, and an uncompromising commitment to peaceful solutions of conflicts and disputes.

Any film I've made, I've only really begun to understand in the cutting room. That's when the story shows itself to you, like a wreck coming out of the sea.

You have to be able to love yourself because that's when things fall into place.

Fashion is capitalism's favourite child.