In Cuba and specifically in Havana there's a sort of energy that turns every situation into something unexpected.

Trips are part of humanity. Emigration is a part of humanity. And it's ever more dynamic due to globalization.

I don't think that the reality of Cuba is perfect, but it doesn't cleave to the negativity, either, with which some people see it.

Cuban public is special - they participate, generate a lot of energy, both in a positive and negative sense. It's always an expressive audience.

I think that this necessity to travel, to see, it's part of human nature.

The base of artistic pursuit is ambivalence and complexity. And that's what I try to do.

What is happiness to me is not necessarily for you. Someone once said, there are three truths: your truth, my truth and the truth. And I think that's true.

It's true that in Cuba there are double standards, there's opportunism, and there is a lack of freedom in some ways.

The magic of film isn't just because of the big screen, or the acoustics, but the ineffable shared experience of going to the movies.

The Cuban public is hugely cinephile. It's a shame that most of the movie theaters are so deteriorated. The sense of spectacle has been lost a little, but even so, people continue to go.

In all of my movies I've tried to address the need for man - not just Cubans - to have a dream and to fight for that dream, even when he doesn't achieve it. It's a form of happiness.

Running a business well means knowing when it's time to make profit.

The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?

Democracy not only requires equality but also an unshakable conviction in the value of each person, who is then equal.

Your self-confidence increases when you know you are living your life according to your highest values.

The plan of this world is infinite similarity and yet infinite variety.

Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.

Pride defeats its own end, by bringing the man who seeks esteem and reverence into contempt.

You take [mammary] cells, you put them in a dish, and within three days ... they don't make milk. They completely forget.

Could we but think with the intensity we love with, we might do great things.

I don't think music can be held. I don't think artists can be put into boxes or places. It's all about creating and making the best music you can.