I've reached a new level of closeness with a new friend when I can make a joke at their expense. That's one of the great joys of life for me.

I often find myself writing about people taking care of each other, or trying to. And often seem to write about situations that are too big for the characters.

I feel like if you can describe something fully and accurately, then people will be able to see it themselves - they don't need be told what to.

I like to let the actors work the way they want to.

I grew up going to the movies, not watching them on television, so I'm still a bit resistant to TV as a medium.

It's not a character flaw to become an adult.

I still haven't quite caught on to the idea of writing without dialogue. I like writing dialogue, and there's nothing wrong with dialogue in movies.

You can shoot a film in New York without seeing the Empire State Building. Or Starbucks...although the latter is much less realistic.

I was nearly a teen-ager before I stopped assuming that everyone I met was Jewish.

The world is really heading in a very dangerous direction, it becomes that much more valuable and important to go to the movies and see human beings that are human beings.

I take it as a sign of intimacy and friendship when you feel comfortable enough with someone to have a little rough and tumble.

We all have special attributes that are of value to someone. Find your place of value. You are never useless. You just need to find your place.

Story is a butterfly whose wings transport us to another world where we receive gifts that change who we are and who we want to be.

When I was filming the death scene [in Inglourious Basterds], and I'm killing somebody, I had to work myself up.

There are no means of attaining faith and certainty except through the Qur'an.

... the desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight. We were among the rumour of wells. In the palace of winds.

I spend all day thinking of shopping. I love the thrill of finding that wonderful, perfect thing, the feeling of your heart racing because it's so right.

Since one never knows what will be the line of advance, it is always most rash to condemn what is not quite in the fashion of the moment.

Massive inequality, we have learned, isn't the best way to run an economy after all. And when you think about it, it's also profoundly ugly.

Going online and asking questions is the best way to learn.

Film work can be tedious and sort of all over the place, especially when you have a family and you're going off and doing things somewhere else.