Movies, as evidenced by a chorus of protesting and celebrating Americans, influence broader trends.

Making your life is ultimately an extraordinarily creative endeavor.

I think we can learn a lot about a person in the very moment that language fails them. In the very moment they they have to be more creative than they would have imagined in order to communicate. It's the very moment that they have to dig deeper than the surface to find words, and at the same time, it's a moment when they want to communicate very badly. They're digging deep and projecting out at the same time.

Listening is not just hearing what someone tells you word for word. You have to listen with a heart. I don't want that to sound touchy-feely; it is not. It is very hard work.

We spend so much time bantering about the words when the real open conversations might very well be our actions. I worry about our rhetoric.

Artists are the people that no matter what, pick up the pen, pick up a paintbrush. They take the time to translate what is happening to create something that resonates deeply with the rest of the people that are caught in the middle of their own reality.

I mean, I think a healthy country is a country where people are healthy physically, and a smart country is a country where people are educated.