The last two - distractions and fears - are the dangerous ones. They're the habitual demons that invade the launch of any project. No one starts a creative endeavor without a certain amount of fear; the key is to learn how to keep free-floating fears from paralyzing you before you've begun. When I feel that sense of dread, I try to make it as specific as possible.

The art of these Fifties movies was in sustaining forever the moment before sex.

I have learned over the years that you should never save for two meetings what you can accomplish in one.

The disasteris not the money, although the money will be missed. The disaster is the disrespect--this belief that the arts are dispensable, that they're not critical to a culture's existence.

The first steps of a creative act are like groping in the dark: random and chaotic, feverish and fearful, a lot of busy-ness with no apparent or definable end in sight.

Ultimately there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.

I had always seen myself as a star; I wanted to be a galaxy.