It's not a filmmaker's job to explain his technique but to tell his story the best way he can.

There’s nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you’re meant to do. It’s like falling in love.

I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That’s the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.

Any good movie is filled with secrets.

There's nothing in the American dream about character. It's a serious flaw.

A movie is like a person. Either you trust it or you don't.

The unconscious is our best collaborator.

Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth.

I was just trying to make a nice little movie... It wasn't until I saw it all put together that I realized this was something remarkable.

I love the editing process of making movies. I just wish that life had one.

I have never understood people dividing things into dramas and comedies.

Dance, my darling dance! If you dance then death can't catch you! Nothing bad can touch you! Dance!

Why have I spent so long settling for less when I know damn well the world expects more?

It's not what you know but the kind of job you do that makes the difference.

Keep your promises to yourself.

My one thing is respect. I don't care about anything else. You should respect everyone around you - the people who work for you, peers. Be classy.

The key to staying together is making sure you guys like each other and need each other.

I want my grandchildren to look like my grandparents. I don't want them to look like Anwar Sadat or Foo Man Chu or Whoopi Goldberg.

Crime, like virtue, has its degrees.

Losers quit when they're tired. Winners quit when they've won.

There's keen delight in what we have: The rattle of pebbles on the shore Under the receding wave.