Being alone is better than sitting next to a lover and feeling lonely.

That's the history of art - you have to consider yourself fortunate if you ever get acknowledged. If you have a critical success that's also a financial success and that you feel good about... If things line up, that's pretty rare.

Whatever story you want to tell, tell it at the right size.

I didn't have any set idea of what kind of filmmaker I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to tell stories that meant something to me, but I never said I was going to be the weird, avant-garde guy.

There are so many great artists, I think, who kind of suffer from being icons, legends, acknowledged masters.

When you're in love, you're asking someone else to fulfill all your unfulfilled needs, to make you whole, and to make you feel good about everything, and no one can do that.

I do find myself at the moment, due to the success of School of Rock, to be on people's radar a little.