“I want to top expectations. I want to blow you away.”

When I make a movie, I want it to be everything to me; like I would die for it.

Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character.

You can’t write poetry on the computer.

The good ideas will survive.

Something stopped me in school a little bit. Anything that I’m not interested in, I can’t even feign interest.

I try not to get analytical in the writing process. I try to just kind of keep the flow from my brain to my hand as far as the pen is concerned and go with the moment and go with my guts.

One thing I don’t understand is that average American movie-goers cannot watch a movie for three hours, yet they’ll watch a stupid, boring, horrific football game for four hours. Now, that is boredom at its most colossal.

I’ve always considered myself a filmmaker who writes stuff for himself to do.

I don’t judge my characters, and that’s my job not to judge them. It’s my job to treat them with respect and to just look at it from their point of view.

My only obligation is to my characters. And they came from where I have been.

You don’t have to know how to make a movie. If you truly love cinema with all your heart and with enough passion, you can’t help but make a good movie.

I steal from every movie ever made.

My parents said, Oh, he’s going to be a director someday. I wanted to be an actor.

If I’m doing my job right, then I’m not writing the dialogue; the characters are saying the dialogue, and I’m just jotting it down.

If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions.

I don’t believe in putting in music as a band aid to get you over some rough parts or bad film making. If it’s there it’s got to add to it or take it to another level.

I don’t plan to take a formal, cold approach with my children, but I expect a lot. I don’t want my children to view me as their best friend. I want to be their mom.

If you give up your rights now, don’t expect to get them back.

If you give up your rights now, don’t expect to get them back.

If you give up your rights now, don’t expect to get them back.

Take care how you listen to the voice of the flatterer, who, in return for his little stock, expects to derive from you considerable advantage. If one day you do not comply with his wishes, be imputes to you two hundred defects instead of perfections.

I set very bold goals. It’s how I’ve always been. I’m definitely somebody who swings for the fences, and I expect very high performance.

Expectation is the source of all the worries – Bestow without aiming to receive anything in return.

Today begins a new saga in my life which I expect to strengthen me and allow me time for reflection. I plan to write music while in prison, read and pray regularly and will come out a stronger, more confident woman.