Children are much more understanding of the suddenness and arbitrariness of death than we are. The old fairy tales contain a lot of that, and we've stolen from them, just as they stole from Greek myth, which has that same mixture of pre-Christian chaos.

Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn't listening.

When husbands and fathers leave, their wives and daughters tend to value themselves less as a result.

Marianne Dashwood looks at gray skies and sees blue. That's all very well, and it's not something you ever want entirely to lose. But you must lose a little of it; otherwise you're going to get wet.

It doesn't matter how good the movie is. What matters is what it takes during the opening weekend. It's slightly distressing sometimes but that's how it works.

There is that thing about not working with animals and children - I don't think that's true. Although you should never work with donkeys.

There is a painful difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event and its final certainty.