I have a new respect for filmmakers, that's for sure, 'cause it's not easy. If I'm allowed to, I'll be directing for the rest of my life. I love the process.

I am not going to bury my son! My son is going to bury me!

Denzel Washington: I like the collaboration, I like seeing people do well, so I really plan to direct the rest of my days.

I think we're fascinated by gangsters and that whole lifestyle and crossing the line. We get sort of stuck in our normal lives, if you will, and you want to be bigger than life and I think people somehow live through these sorts of characters.

[Black people] come into the world exactly like you. It's just that there are circumstances in the culture that are dictated and put on our lives that we have to fight against.

I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.

If I am a cup maker, I'm interested in making the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.