Ideas' can be only in the distant background of a work of art, something like a very low horizon. In the middle distance and foreground... there shouldn't be any 'ideas' visible.

Impressions are like pearls; ideas are like the string that turns the pearls into a necklace. The string is invisible, but it is not dispensable and cannot be broken.

The first principle of modern cultures may be their connectedness. Culture is like wind and wind knows no boundary or center. Once there is a center, wind becomes a whirlwind.

Growth will be slower, no one denies that. But the question is: Where are the chances and opportunities now? I see some positive and some negative trends.

Many Chinese entrepreneurs are now donating for education; others support foundations in health care and research. None of us wants to be the richest guy in the cemetery.

Isolation means a lack of growth. I grew up in China at a time when the country was completely isolated. That era is over.

Thomas Hardy once advised us to record impressions more and to express ideas less. Now and then I would remember this advice.

Did you ever find that there is room between the two opposing rules of a paradox? That space between two almost opposite rules is the ground where I play and write.

Chinese no longer crave so much for food and accommodation, but they do crave democracy. I stand by that. I don't know which model China will follow.

I feel that it would be tedious for a person to have only one life. It would be much better to have two or three lives going on simultaneously.

What is art in the final analysis? Art is the shining forth of one's interiority.

Ignorance binds people tighter than culture.

In this respect I suppose I'm the total opposite of Garry. With his very emotive body language at the board he shows and displays all his emotions. I don't.

Basketball also helps you learn to move your feet by playing defense and guarding guys, and that all carries over to playing football with staying square and having good footwork.

When I was a kid I joined the circus. I did that. It is true. But it's not like you think. There was a guy, he had his own circus. His name was Carol Jacobs and he owned it. It was a small thing.

We, as film-makers, are privileged. We can make people cry or laugh. We can make them think and feel. It is a great privilege and a great responsibility.

Don't be too proud to take lessons. I'm not.

Trust your hunches... Hunches are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.

Novels must have verisimilitude, and truth has little enough of that.

Hall of Love has ten thousand swords. Don't be afraid to use one.

[Princess Margaret] was always trying to radicalize things.