It's always great to do a movie that you find is entertaining, but also can give some sort of political or social message.

I have nothing against diamonds, or rubies or emeralds or sapphires. I do object when their acquisition is complicit in the debasement of children or the destruction of a country.

I think one of the privileges of being a filmmaker is the opportunity to remain a kind of perpetual student.

There is no reason why challenging themes and engaging stories have to be mutually exclusive - in fact, each can fuel the other.

I don't think movies can ever be too intense, but people have to understand why you're showing them the things you are showing them.

You do these movies, you give it out to the world and you really have no idea how people are going to react to you.

However much I may like to talk about or be interested in a more philosophical or moral agenda, [film] is, ultimately, about narrative. And it's about telling stories that are engaging and dramatic.

I never thought about that ever throughout the entire course of my career about choosing a specific role because it would make me seem more man-like.

I've been in plenty of situations where I thought the film would turn out one way or my performance would be looked at one way and it was an entirely different situation.

There is a segment of the American population that has been excluded from the national myth, and that should be redressed.

People who have any kind of illness use humor as a type of coping.

So much of war is sitting around and doing nothing, waiting for somebody else. With no guarantee of the amount of time you have left it doesn't seem worth even starting a train of thought.

The man who marries a woman for her beauty will be deceived

he was home on his own and listening to the sort of music he needed to listen to when he felt like this, music that seemed to find the sore spot in him and press up hard against it...

To carry words in your heart that are less than loving would be a mistake . Only allow kindness to move in and evict the rest.~bns

For those who don't know what they are doing, painting is easy. For those who do know what they are doing, painting is difficult.

The person who takes the first step in a conflict toward the other, those are brave people.

Private enterprise is ceasing to be free enterprise. Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise.

Filling a need is not merely good business; it's a basic attitude towards life. If you see a need, do whatever you can to meet that need.

Some people did take the domestic goddess title literally rather than ironically. It was about the pleasures of feeling like one rather than actually being one.

Remember that the tongue speaks only what is in the heart.