“You can do pretty much anything you want in this world, and it’s not all that difficult – you just have to ignore the people who tell you that you need to go this way, and it’s the only way.”

The suburbs are incredibly oppressive. I actually believe that the suburbs are much more dangerous than the ghettos.

I think most artists feel like they’re outside society – no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your bank account, whatever is going on in your life on the professional side.

I thought it was a huge conflict of interest to be the director and the subject – it’s very sketchy territory to be in. I’ve seen what’s happened to other directors who have done that.

An artist doesn’t necesetharily have to get acclaim from the outside. Maybe it is much better if he can get validation from within.

I’ve noticed in my life that as you work on more things with more people, you spend less time hanging out with other people who are artists, creative people who give you a sense of family.

I’m a writer, so I interview people all the time, and I think of it as being a very creative process. Giving interviews is actually one of the most creative parts of the film promotion process.

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.

I do know that for all the artists it’s very important to speak in a vernacular that can be understood by everyone.

Ignore death up to the last moment; then, when it can’t be ignored any longer, have yourself squirted full of morphia and shuffle off in a coma. Thoroughly sensible, humane and scientific, eh?

It isn’t possible to love and part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal.

Once again, America finds itself with some leaders who believe we can ignore the world without consequences here at home. Apparently they’re oblivious to the reality that we are less insulated from global events than ever before.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Madam President, speaking here in Dublin Castle it is impossible to ignore the weight of history, as it was yesterday when you and I laid wreaths at the Garden of Remembrance.

It’s almost 10 years since the 2008 crisis, but we all still remember the consequences of ignoring threats to the public finances.

When we look outside of that on which we depend we ignore our unity; looking outward we see many faces; look inward and all is one head.

Washington turned a blind eye to Al-Qaeda.