I began to realize that I had tended to avoid some people because of my instant conclusions about who they were and what they would have to say. I discovered that everyone, speaking honestly and openly, had important things to tell me.

You can't just tell actors, especially young ones, to 'act happy' and expect them to do it. They must in some essential way be happy.

In thinking about 'depressing movies,' many people don't realize that all bad movies are depressing, and no good movies are.

I am grateful for the gifts of intelligence, love, wonder and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting.

If there's anything I hate more than a stupid action comedy, it's an incompetent stupid action comedy. It's not so bad it's good. It's so bad it's nothing else but bad.

When I write, I fall into the zone many writers, painters, musicians, athletes, and craftsmen of all sorts seem to share: In doing something I enjoy and am expert at, deliberate thought falls aside and it is all just THERE. I think of the next word no more than the composer thinks of the next note.

Who wants to live in the present? It's such a limiting period compared to the past.