I think if people looked at my body of work, they'd see a great breadth of work.

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.

Your energy is louder than your words.

Though sleep is called our best friend, it is a friend who often keeps us waiting!

Wisdom is the ability to use divine reaction to solve human problems.

Cleveland is a really hard place, it's a very creative place, it feeds you creatively, but it's a very hard place to make a living creatively.

Invite the reader to participate by deciphering. Chaos can attract and engage.

In my youth, poverty enriched me, but now I can afford wealth.

There's no way I would want to hurt him or bust him up. That's why, for the sake of the family as well as himself, I will take him out in the opening round.

Love comes in every color, but the fact is... I never needed 50 Shades of Grey, Just turn the lights down low and give me every shade of blackness.

Friendship is the heaven of life.

So many hours must I take my rest; So many hours must I contemplate.