“I’ve discovered that most critics themselves are cinematically illiterate. They don’t really know much about movies. They don’t know the history. They don’t know the technology. They don’t know anything. So for them to try to analyze it, they’re lost.”

You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.

I regret not the things I have done, only those I have yet to do.

Everybody has talent, it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is.

Ultimately the Force is the larger mystery of the universe. And to trust your feelings is your way into that.

So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.

Star Wars has always struck a chord with people. There are issues of loyalty, of friendship, of good and evil… The theme came from stories and ideas that have been around for thousands of years.

I think as you grow up, you realize you have obligations just in your life – being a citizen, being part of humanity – to help other people, to help your country, to help the world.

The secret to film is that it’s an illusion.

Learning to make films is very easy. Learning what to make films about is very hard.

If you want to be successful in a particular field of endeavor, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities.

I want to live where I want to live, and I will make films because I love to make films.

That had always been my purpose: to get people back in touch with what makes us so valuable as a human race.

The secret is not to give up hope. It’s very hard not to because if you’re really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side.

Teachers are the most important individuals in our society – nothing is as powerful as the human touch in education.

You must let go of your past and embrace your future and figure out what path you’re going to go down

Making a film is like putting out a fire with sieve. There are so many elements, and it gets so complicated.

The aim of critique is not the ends of man or of reason but in the end the Overman, the overcome, overtaken man. The point of critique is not justification but a different way of feeling: another sensibility.

I don’t care what critics and other people think.

When I’m writing, I’m locking myself in a room. I’m the worst critic in the world. I write something and then I beat myself up. I’m like “Vin, you’re retarded, that makes no sense.”

I am a great admirer of other actors, but I never compete with other actors. I always compete with what I did last, and I’m my own most vicious critic. So I’m always trying to do it better.

Every dictatorship has ultimately strangled in the web of repression it wove for its people, making mistakes that could not be corrected because criticism was prohibited.

If you want criticisms, read the dissenting opinions of the Court. That will give you criticisms.

You can’t be sensitive, because you’re going to get criticized. I don’t care who you are, you’re going to get criticized.

Merciless criticism and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking.