The world is really heading in a very dangerous direction, it becomes that much more valuable and important to go to the movies and see human beings that are human beings.

I often find myself writing about people taking care of each other, or trying to. And often seem to write about situations that are too big for the characters.

I feel like if you can describe something fully and accurately, then people will be able to see it themselves - they don't need be told what to.

I like to let the actors work the way they want to.

I grew up going to the movies, not watching them on television, so I'm still a bit resistant to TV as a medium.

It's not a character flaw to become an adult.

I still haven't quite caught on to the idea of writing without dialogue. I like writing dialogue, and there's nothing wrong with dialogue in movies.

You can shoot a film in New York without seeing the Empire State Building. Or Starbucks...although the latter is much less realistic.

I was nearly a teen-ager before I stopped assuming that everyone I met was Jewish.

I've reached a new level of closeness with a new friend when I can make a joke at their expense. That's one of the great joys of life for me.

I take it as a sign of intimacy and friendship when you feel comfortable enough with someone to have a little rough and tumble.

If you don't care for obscenity, you don't care for the truth.

You hardly find any military base in distant areas from the [Syria] cities unless it's an airport or something like this, but most of the military bases or centers within inhabited areas.

The way I see it, it's impossible to change things without encountering resistance.

Long is the night for the sleepless. Long is the road for the weary. Long is samsara (the cycle of continued rebirth) for the foolish, who have not recognised the true teaching.

Everybody is going to love me and this is not being cocky - this is just what I see.

The world is unkind to the shoeless and frolicsome.

As soon as you stop thinking about them, they'll send you a text message or call you. Because they know you stopped thinking about them. It's like a radar.

Creating a child takes no love or skill; being a parent requires lots of both.

I see films in theaters, and I enjoy films. I enjoy the art of storytelling, and the different ways to tell them.

...ambition without pious restraint must end in failure, often involving in its ruin that beautiful reverence which solaces common men for the obscurity and poverty of their lot.