When I'm making a film, I'm the audience.

There's no such thing as simple. Simple is hard.

You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.

Every scene is a lesson. Every shot is a school. Let the learning continue.

As a child I had terrible asthma.

More than ninety percent of directing a picture is the right casting

Now more than ever we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other and understand how we see the world, and cinema is the best medium for doing this.

I love movies - it's my whole life, and that's it.

Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out.

Always stay open to surprise.

I’m not interested in a realistic look, not at all, not ever. Every film should look the way I feel.

American cinema tends to express a patriotic relationship to national identity on a regular basis.

Do you know who is ready to go with the presidential campaign? Jeb Bush. Jeb already has plans to end the war in Iraq that his brother started. All he needs is a hot tub time machine.

I love the early process of asking questions about a story and deciding which questions matter most.

I don't think you can ever make enough to be set for life. Well, I guess there are limits. In the billions, I guess.

By removing that which is petty and self-seeking, we bring forth all that is glorious and mindful of the whole.

Any room in our house at any time in the day was there to read in or to be read to.

The artist who makes himself accessible is self-destructive.

The truth is very few of us are related to Napoleon or Cleopatra. Although, those are bad examples as I am actually descended from both of them.

Through reading literature we can make ghosts speak to us, and we can speak back to them.

Strive to close the eyes of the body and open those of the soul and look into your own heart.