- “I never felt comfortable with myself, because I was never part of the
 majority. I always felt awkward and shy and on the outside of the momentum of my friends' lives.”
- I've always been very hopeful which I guess isn't strange coming from me. I don't want to call myself an optimist. I want to say that I've always been full of hope. I've never lost that. I have a lot of hope for this country and for the entire world. . .”
“I've discovered I've got this preoccupation with ordinary people pursued by large forces.”
- A lot of the films I've made probably could have worked just as well 50 years ago, and that's just because I have a lot of old-fashion values.
- All I have to do is pose for a picture and I'm getting married to the person standing next to me.
- I feel like I've been engaged to the British Empire since 1980 and tonight you have given me the ring [knighthood].
- If Bush, as I believe, has reliable information on the fact that Saddam Hussein is making weapons of mass destruction, I cannot not support the policies of his government.
- There is a fine line between censorship and good taste and moral responsibility.
- People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.
- When I grow up, I still want to be a director.
- I like the smell of film. I just like knowing there's film going through the camera.
- We were just doing a job and loving it. It had great success, and we were thrilled. Then it got bigger and bigger, and then, out of nowhere, one day you're reading that people are really annoyed. ... This [backlash] happens to everybody. Don't think you're so special.
- I hate that people think it's wrong to say you're inspired by Jaws or by Raiders Of The Lost Ark. You're allowed to be.
- There are three movies that I am exceptionally proud of in my life, and I rarely commit to a list of films that I like, that I've made, ... but these are the three films that I was passionately connected to. The first was 'ET,' the second 'Schindler's List,' and third is 'Saving Private Ryan.
- I was saddened that after long negotiations and many compromises we were unable to come to terms with Universal's parent company, GE.
- I felt, for the first time in my career, that I was directing a stage production more than a motion picture. Part of directing is psychotherapy. You're sitting there with a lot of very talented patients, and you're hoping your movie doesn't blow up in your face in anarchy.
- This is a courageous year for filmmakers. ... They are saying 'If I never make another film, this one says what I think and feel.
- These movies are asking sensitive questions about racial intolerance and Middle East politics. It's been an amazing year, very much like 1968, '69 and '70, when you suddenly see all of these political movies coming out at the same time, out of the watershed of politics. Some of it is due to our own insecurity about the voices representing us in government right now. We feel like our government has set us adrift, and we're trying to make our voices heard. We're telling them to be worried about these things.
- I don't think this collection of films represent everything. We're not delivering a shared point of view. These movies are all so different from each other. We all look at a movie through a prism of everything our parents and teachers taught us and what our children are telling us. You can't make a movie expecting everyone will have the same reaction. Ten people seeing 'Munich' will come out with 10 different points of view. It was always that way, sitting around the Passover table talking about the Middle East.
- All through my career I've done what I can to discover new talent and give them a start.
- Through the visual arts, the performing arts, the art of music, the art of dance, the art of celebration of life, all of us are dedicated to making this Olympic opening and closing ceremonies the most emotional everyone has ever seen.
- Our one goal is to give the world a taste of peace, friendship and understanding. Through the visual arts, the art of celebration of life, we are dedicated to making this the most emotional opening ceremony ever.
- Dakota Fanning was on my mind the second I decided to make 'War of the Worlds,' ... I know no one her age that's better than she is and more intuitive about human nature. She has a very wise old soul - it's like she's been around about seven or eight times.
- I'd love to build a company that will continue to make movies well beyond me someday. And I'd like to help start something great, even investing in it myself.
- I expected to see a party animal who was going to reap harvest with all the girls on the set. I found the opposite. Leo is a homebody.
- I don't think any movie or any book or any work of art can solve the stalemate in the Middle East today. But it's certainly worth a try.
- We don't demonize our targets. They're individuals. They have families. Although what happened in Munich, I condemn
- There is something about killing people at close range that is excruciating. It's bound to try a man's soul.
- You have many years ahead of you to create the dreams that we can't even imagine dreaming. You have done more for the collective unconscious of this planet than you will ever know.
- INTO THE WEST takes place during one of the single most dramatic periods in American history. We're painting this on a huge canvas in order to tell a story that explores the Gold Rush, the transcontinental railroad, the wild west and the Indian wars leading to the tragedy at Wounded Knee. These are all facets of the American and Native American experience. It's the story about opportunity and the clash of cultures and the eventual overwhelming of one nation's way of life over another.
- It would make people more comfortable if I made a film that said all targeted assassination is bad, or good, but the movie doesn't take either of those positions. It refuses to. Many of those pundits on the Left and Right would love the film to land somewhere definite. It puts a real burden on the audience to figure out for themselves how they feel about these issues. There are no easy answers to the most complex story of the last 50 years.
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