An Ingmar Bergman film would probably owe a sizeable bulk of its import and its direction and its quality to the directorial end and to the director because it's uniquely a Bergman film. But that again is not the general - no, that's much more the exception than the rule.

I'm afraid that if I started to ponder who I am and what I am, I might not like what I find.

I guess we all have a little vaunting itch for immortality, I guess that must be it.

There are weapons that are simply thoughts. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy.

If you need drugs to be a good writer, you are not a good writer.

If you write, fix pipes, grade papers, lay bricks or drive a taxi - do it with a sense of pride. And do it the best you know how. Be cognizant and sympathetic to the guy alongside, because he wants a place in the sun, too. And always...always look past his color, his creed, his religion and the shape of his ears. Look for the whole person. Judge him as the whole person.

Our greatest responsibility is not to be pencils of the past.