I think I've learned a lot about how to make movies, and particularly about how to edit movies by thinking about how similar problems are resolved in other forms. The issues in all forms are the same in an abstract sense, aren't they? Characterization, abstraction, metaphor, passage of time... Whether it's a movie, a novel, a play, or a poem, those issues exist. And each person resolves them differently.

Even if I know I'm going to go to a church, I don't know what the minister's going to say.

I don't like to read novels where the novelist tells me what to think about the situation and the characters. I prefer to discover for myself.

There's the internal rhythm within a sequence, and then there's the rhythm between the sequences, and that's extremely important in constructing the narrative. For example, you don't put two big dramatic scenes right next to each other. But you can use the rhythm of the transition shots; they can often serve a double purpose.

Anybody whose mind is functioning at all can't be content with the way the world works.

Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts.

A lot of the issues of rhythm in film are found in the editing because it's very rare that any sequence is the sequence that is shot.