Any film, or to me any creative endeavour, no matter who you're working with, is, in many cases, a wonderful experience.

I wouldn't presume to be God's point of view.

If your mother cooks Italian food, why should you go to a restaurant?

I was saying as a joke the other day that I love film editing, I know how to cut a picture, I think I know how to shoot it, but I don't know how to light it. And I realize it's because I didn't grow up with light. I grew up in tenements.

I've seen many, many movies over the years, and there are only a few that suddenly inspire you so much that you want to continue to make films.

My working-class Italian-American parents didn't go to school, there were no books in the house.

What the Dalai Lama had to resolve was whether to stay in Tibet or leave. He wanted to stay, but staying would have meant the total destruction of Tibet, because he would have died and that would have ripped the heart out of his people.