“If I ever own a restaurant, I will never allow the waiters to ask if the diners like their dishes. Particularly when they’re talking.”

The ideal American type is perfectly expressed by the Protestant, individualist, anti-conformist, and this is the type that is in the process of disappearing. In reality there are few left.

Criminals are never very amusing. It’s because they’re failures. Those who make real money aren’t counted as criminals. This is a class distinction, not an ethical problem.

A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated, something is wrong.

The cinema has no boundary; it is a ribbon of dream.

The trouble with a movie is that it’s old before it’s released. It’s no accident that it comes in a can.

I hate Woody Allen physically, I dislike that kind of man.

Human nature is eternal; therefore one who follows his nature keeps his original nature, in the end.

Working is part of life, I don’t know how to distinguish between the two. Work is an expression of life.

There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.

Ignorance sheer ignorance. There is no confidence to equal it. It’s only when you know something about a profession that you are timid or careful.

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.

I’m never certain of a performance – my own or the other actors’ – or the script or anything. But to me it seems there’s only one place in the world the camera can be, and the decision usually comes immediately.

Future shock is a sickness which comes from too much change in too short a time. It’s the feeling that nothing is permanent anymore.

I’ve spent most of my mature life trying to prove that I’m not irresponsible.

The Godfather’ was the glorification of a bunch of bums who never existed.

My kind of director is an actor-director who writes.

Prana is more powerful than just about anything – food, exercise, skin creams, and Spanx.

If you have an Ina Garten-level roasted-chicken recipe, it’s a game changer. I bring that to dinner parties and make a lot of friends.

Food makes travel so exceptional, because you get to taste what it’s actually supposed to taste like. To eat the real Pad Thai or finally have a proper curry is something pretty amazing.

I do think there’s some value to really throwing yourself into food and embracing where it comes from.

Community means that people come together around the table, not just to feed their bodies, but to feed their minds and their relationships.

Jesus Christ—who, as it turns out, was born of a virgin, cheated death, and rose bodily into the heavens—can now be eaten in the form of a cracker

The Bible is to your soul what bread is to your body. You need it daily. One good meal does not suffice for a lifetime.

For dinner parties, I love making an easy cioppino using shrimp, mussels, clams, and a hearty fish that won’t fall apart easily.