“They’re called ‘angels’ because they’re in heaven until the reviews come out.”

I wasn’t supported, I wasn’t given any self-esteem.

I find George Bush and Dick Cheney frightening, Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft frightening.

If a man wants to get it right, he’s looked up to and respected. If a woman wants to get it right, she’s difficult or impossible. If he acts, produces and directs, he’s called multitalented. If she does the same thing, she’s called vain and egotistical.

Art finds a way to be constructive. It becomes heat in cold places; it becomes light in dark places.

It’s true that I have a very healthy ego; anybody who creates does.

On a very basic level, many people think celebrities have too much already, so we shouldn’t be entitled to our political opinions.

To have ego means to believe in your own strength. And to also be open to other people’s views. It is to be open, not closed. So, yes, my ego is big, but it’s also very small in some areas. My ego is responsible for my doing what I do – bad or good.

I always wear the same thing at home. I can’t be bothered with jewelry. My pants have elastic waists. I like to be comfortable. There are so many more important things to worry about.

Art is the signature of a generation; artists have a way of defining the times.

I don’t read music. Not even essentially. Not even nonessentially.

Directing is so interesting. You know, it just sort of encompasses everything that you see, that you know, that you’ve felt, that you have observed.

I don’t like talking about myself and I don’t like talking about the work.

I remember when I was 5 living on Pulaski Street in Brooklyn, the hallway of our building had a brass banister and a great sound, a great echo system. I used to sing in the hallway.

My nose was part of my heritage, and if I had talent to sing and to act, why wasn’t that enough?

I don’t know why it is that we need to denigrate, to knock down. It’s so sick.

When I was maybe 5 or 6 years old, the neighborhood girls would sit on the stoop and sing. I was known as the kid who had a good voice and no father.

The only time I’ll get good reviews is if I kill myself.

You really can’t write well if you’re thinking about what the reviewers might say.

I had a good mind to discontinue permanently the supply of grain to the city, reliance on which had discouraged Italian agriculture, but refrained because some politician would be bound one day to revive the dole as a means of ingratiating himself with the people.

In the case of a creative mind, it seems to me, the intellect has withdrawn its watchers from the gates, and the ideas rush in pell-mell and only then does it review and inspect the multitudes.

Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.

I never read reviews. I’m not interested. But I value a lot the reactions of the spectators.

I don’t read reviews, but I do get feedback from my peers and people I know, like other actors and directors and producers.

Nothing ruins your day more than getting a bad review.