One, don’t wait for inspiration, just start the damned thing. Two, once you begin, keep on until the end. How do you know how the story should begin until you find out where it’s going?
Of what use is freedom of speech to those who fear to offend?
I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state.
To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.
I know as a critic I’m required to have a well-armored heart. I must be a cynical wise guy to show my great sophistication. No pushover, me.
I am, beneath everything else, a fan. I was fixed in this mode as a young boy and am awed by people who take the risks of performance.
A truly strong woman will choose a stong man who disagrees with her over a weak one who goes along.
I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can’t say it wasn’t interesting. My lifetime’s memories are what I have brought home from the trip.
There are no guarantees. But there is also nothing to fear. We come from oblivion when we are born. We return to oblivion when we die. The astonishing thing is this period of in-between.
My favorite love scenes in movies don’t involve passion, they involve nobility or sacrifice.
I was born inside the movie of my life. The visuals were before me, the audio surrounded me, the plot unfolded inevitably but not necessarily. I don’t remember how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me.
Because we are human, because we are bound by gravity and the limitations of our bodies, because we live in a world where the news is often bad and the prospects disturbing, there is a need for another world somewhere, a world where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers live.
We must try to contribute joy to the world.
What makes people interesting is the spirit that shines through.
It’s hard to explain the fun to be found in seeing the right kind of bad movie.
We are born into a box of time and space. We use words and communication to break out of it and to reach out to others.
Who wants to live in the present? It’s such a limiting period compared to the past.
The moment a man stops dreaming is the moment he petrifies inside.
A film like Hoop Dreams is what the movies are for. It takes us, shakes us, and makes us think in new ways about the world around us. It gives us the impression of having touched life itself.
Teaching prejudice to a child is itself a form of bullying. You’ve got to be taught to hate.