“Men are allowed to have passion and commitment for their work… a woman is allowed that feeling for a man, but not her work.”

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.

I’ve been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good.

We work on macro issues and macaroni and cheese issues. When women are in the halls of power, our national debate reflects the needs and dreams of American families.

Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.

To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It’s a very complicated process to do large projects.

Architecture arouses sentiments in man. T

We as artists cannot be politicians. We as artists can only be truth-tellers.

I’ve totally learned in this process that 99% of the time, your gut is right, and you know what’s right for you. I know exactly what’s right for my career and for my art, and sometimes, even if the whole room is saying, ‘Don’t do that, don’t do that,’ you know that doing that is going to be good for you, in the long run.

If you have been brutally broken, but still have the courage to be gentle to other living beings, then you’re a badass with the heart of an angel.

When it comes to being badass nothing beats this It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.