The real is always way ahead of what we can imagine.

In other words: It seems to me that I will always be happy in the place where I am not. Or, more bluntly: Wherever I am not is the place where I am myself. Or else, taking the bull by the horns: Anywhere out of the world.

The childhood scenes [ in The Tree of Life] are tremendous. My favorite moment is when the mother levitate - for three seconds. Of course, this is how a child thinks of his mother.

Writing is, after all, a gesture towards other people, giving something to others. And so it's not a completely hermetic exercise. It's really an opening up.

Chance is an element of life. What I try to do is study what I call the mechanics of reality as carefully as I can.

Stories only happen to those who are able to tell them.

It often happens that things are other than what they seem, and you can get yourself into trouble by jumping to conclusions.