“Good luck has its storms.”

I want to live where I want to live, and I will make films because I love to make films.

That had always been my purpose: to get people back in touch with what makes us so valuable as a human race.

The secret is not to give up hope. It’s very hard not to because if you’re really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side.

Teachers are the most important individuals in our society – nothing is as powerful as the human touch in education.

You must let go of your past and embrace your future and figure out what path you’re going to go down

Making a film is like putting out a fire with sieve. There are so many elements, and it gets so complicated.

It’s very important not to do what your peers think you should do, not do what your parents think,your teachers or even your culture. Do what’s inside of you.

Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that’s one of the hardest things to do because you don’t always know exactly where you’re going, and you shouldn’t.

I’ve always tried to be aware of what I say in my films, because all of us who make motion pictures are teachers – teachers with very loud voices.

I’m extremely grateful that I discovered my passion. I love movies. I love to watch them, I love to make them.

Working hard is very important. You’re not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard.

We were always dreaming of how it was going to be.

We are all living in cages with the door wide open.

Being in Washington is more fictional than being in Hollywood.

You need peers; you need people who are at the same level you are. You never know in life when you’re going to need help, and you never know who you’re going to need it from.

All democracies turn into dictatorships – but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it’s Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea.

In my family, there was not an abundance of wealth, but there was an abundance of love. So there was always humor, and there was joy and there was comfort and there was this environment just to have a good time.

That’s my only goal. Surround myself with funny people, and make sure everyone has a good time and works hard.

All the good writers of confessions, from Augustine onwards, are men who are still a little in love with their sins.

A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there’s more conversation.

I’m frazzled, but I’m good.

A good deal of philanthropy arises in general from mere vanity and love of distinction gilded over to others and to themselves with some show of benevolent sentiment.

It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks.

Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?