My father made sure that I had lots of levels of education – from ballroom-dancing to painting, commando training, theatre and magic.

The ugly duckling is a misunderstood universal myth. It's not about turning into a blonde Barbie doll or becoming what you dream of being; it's about self-revelation, becoming who you are.

Western films don't do very well in India.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself

Ultimately, you have to pursue your own path, not someone's idea of the right path. You need to stay on your path.

If Paris is a city of lights, Sydney is the city of fireworks.

The race is long but in the end it is only with YOURSELF.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

I really believe musical form will go on. There's got to be a way of making musical form in cinema live again.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.

All good, clean stories are melodrama, it's just the set of devices that determines how you show or hide it.

Where are you from? New York?""Weird you picked up on that, " she said, "I've been gone from there for so long."Like a couple of decades could dilute that accent.

I've lived to see key parts of my research absorbed in textbooks and in central banks around the world. And some finance ministries, too.

Mirth is the Mail of Anguish --

I know what I want to get down and I haven't got much time to do it in.

Faith is to believe what you do not yet see: the reward for this faith is to see what you believe. Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.

I'm interested in reality but I'm not interested in realism at all. I'm interested in the ways that I think people want to relate.

Woe to the man who tries to stretch the imagination of man He shall be mocked he shall be scourged by the blinkered guardians of morality.

Yoga takes you close to your true nature. Yoga with its techniques helps you to harmonize with nature. Peace is our very nature, and yoga leads you to inner peace

I really wanted to show [in "fences"] a marriage that is working. Not perfect, but working.

Being forced into early retirement can be to a man what being "given up for a younger woman" is for a woman.