It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.

I've always been more comfortable sinking while clutching a good theory than swimming with an ugly fact.

If the scene bores you when you read it, rest assured it WILL bore the actors, and will then bore the audience, and we're all going to be back in the breadline.

Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills.

You can't write about history without writing about politics at some point. History is about movements of people. 'What is criminality and what is government' is a theme that runs through every history.

Here's what happens in a play. You get involved in a situation where something is unbalanced. If nothing's unbalanced, there's no reason to have a play. If Hamlet comes home from school, and his dad's not dead and asks him if he's had a good time, it's boring. But if something's unbalanced, it must be returned to order.

The essence of jiu-jitsu is philosophy.