"Most good actors have a huge intelligence about the human condition and a real open heart to different kinds of people and behavior."

"I think the enemy is self-censorship. In a free society the biggest danger is that you're afraid to the point where you censor yourself."

"I don't think people have been able to deal with the fact that African American filmmakers can make movies about life and relationships."

"I have personal beliefs and they are sometimes reflected in the movies I make, but I also reflect other points of view."

"Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life."

"You'll find boredom where there is the absence of a good idea."

"That is the definition of faith - acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove."

"The canvas of imagination has no boundaries except those imposed by fear. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."