“Man is a genius when he dreams. Dream what you are capable of. The harder you dream it, the sooner it will come true.”

The characters in my films try to live honestly and make the most of the lives they’ve been given.

The great appeal of film is its relatability.

Human beings share the same common problems. A film can only be understood if it depicts these properly.

A film made in this spirit reveals the hearts of the crew.

It is the power of memory that gives rise to the power of imagination.

There is something that might be called cinematic beauty. It can only be expressed in a film, and it must be present for that film to be a moving work.

One of techniques of modern art is simplification, and that I must therefore simplify this film.

It is to make it nurture and grow that I write my script- it is directing it that makes my tree blossom and bear fruit.

I believe that it is this quality that draws people to come and see a film, and that it is the hope of attaining this quality that inspires the filmmaker to make his film in the first place.

If you want to be a great director, be a great screenwriter.

I am not a special person, I am not especially strong; I am not especially gifted.

I believe this is what the medieval Noh playwright and theorist Zeami meant by ‘watching with a detached gaze.’

During the shooting of a scene the director’s eye has to catch even the minutest detail. But this does not mean glaring concentratedly at the set.

I have no idea who the characters are, later, their personalities take over anything I might want to do.

Movie directors, or should I say people who create things, are very greedy and they can never be satisfied… That’s why they can keep on working.

For me, filmmaking combines everything. That’s the reason I’ve made cinema my life’s work. In films, painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.

Don’t work harder than your competition, be your own competition.

I bet the pill is harder to get than drugs–which shows how screwed up this world really is!

It’s even harder to stay at the top in sports than it is to get there.

Conscience is harder than our enemies, Knows more, accuses with more nicety.

I worked hard when I was a consultant. I worked hard when I was in graduate school looking at neuroscience.

Everything takes time… and that’s something that your generation find it a lot harder to adjust to.

You can’t change a regime on the basis of compassion. There’s got to be something harder.

The Almighty can hardly be such a fool as the churches make out.