Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil.

I've been encouraging documentary filmmakers to use more and more humor, and they're loath to do that because they think if it's a documentary it has to be deadly serious - it has to be like medicine that you're supposed to take. And I think it's what keeps the mass audience from going to documentaries.

How do you deliver democracy to a country? You don't do it down the barrel of a gun. That's not how you deliver it.

The economic system that the United States has is an evil empire. It's an economic system that's not fair, not just, and it's not democratic. And it will fall just like communism fell. The richest 1 percent now own 50 percent of the wealth. It didn't use to be that way. The average CEO 20 years ago made 20 times as much as the average employee. Now they make 212 times as much.

A lot of political people, especially people on the left, have forgotten the importance of humor as an incredible weapon, and a vehicle through which to affect change.

'Zero Dark Thirty' is a disturbing, fantastically-made movie. It will make you hate torture.

'Champagne' and 'breathmint' are the first two words all Oscar winners hear.