The object is to try to get the (movie) system to work for you, instead of against you. And the only way you can do it is through success, I'm afraid.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

I wanted Yoda to be the traditional kind of character you find in fairy tales and mythology. And that character is usually a frog or a wizened old man on the side of the road. The hero is going down the road and meets this poor and insignificant person. The goal or lesson is for the hero to learn to respect everybody and to pay attention to the poorest person because that's where the key to his success will be.

You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle.

Working hard is very important. You're not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard.

My success wasn't based on how I could push down everybody that was around me. My success was based on how much I could push everybody up.

You have to have a thick enough skin to cope with the criticism. I'm very self-critical and I have a lot of friends that I trust who are film directors and writers and people in my profession.