I don't dictate, you don't dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully.

A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there.

People sometimes forget all the films that we've done. They remember the likes of 'Malcolm X' and 'Do the Right Thing.' But I've been working since 1986. From the beginning, I was determined to not just be a flash in the pan. I've got to keep up with Woody Allen. He's lapping me.

Everybody does what they want to do for their own specific reasons.

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

There's a lot of Americans, black and white, who think that we've arrived where we need to be and nothing else needs to be done and affirmative action needs to be dismantled.

Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.