“I started Transcendental Meditation in 1973 and have not missed a single meditation ever since. Twice a day, every day. It has given me effortless access to unlimited reserves of energy, creativity and happiness deep within.”

Mankind was not meant to suffer — bliss is our nature. The individual is cosmic. Let’s rock.

Sugar does make people happy, but then you fall off the edge after a few minutes, so I’ve really pretty much cut it out of my diet. Except for cupcakes. I like those.

The day you catch an idea you fall in love with, even a small one, is a beautiful day.

The artist does not have to suffer to show suffering.

Some things we forget. But many things we remember on the mental screen, which is the biggest screen of all.

I like things that go into hidden, mysterious places, places I want to explore that are very disturbing. In that disturbing thing, there is sometimes tremendous poetry and truth.

I don’t know why people expect art to make sense. They accept the fact that life doesn’t make sense.

Cinema is a medium that can translate ideas. But wood can translate ideas, too. You have wood and then you get a chair. Some ideas are for different things.

Life is filled with abstractions, and the only way to make heads or tails of it is going through intuition.

Many things happen that we don’t know the significance of until a little bit later.

My cow is not pretty, but it is pretty to me.

I just like going into strange worlds.

Be true to yourself. Don’t take no for an answer. And start your Transcendental Meditation.

I discovered that if one looks a little closer at this beautiful world, there are always red ants underneath.

Intuition is the key to everything, in painting, filmmaking, business – everything. I think you could have an intellectual ability, but if you can sharpen your intuition, which they say is emotion and intellect joining together, then a knowingness occurs.

All my movies are about strange worlds that you can’t go into unless you build them and film them. That’s what’s so important about film to me. I just like going into strange worlds.

Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world.

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.

True alchemy lies in this formula: ‘Your memory and your senses are but the nourishment of your creative impulse’.

It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures.

The truth is that creative activity is one that involves the entire self – our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds.

Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself.

Your memory and your senses will be nourishment for your creativity.

Most people don’t find their creativity. There are more unsung geniuses that don’t even know they have great talent.