I try to avoid giving advice. The only advice I will give is to pay attention. I don't mean to the screen in your hand. I'm talking about the natural world. I spent a lot of time educating my children about nature by putting them in nature. I said, "I want you to listen; I want you to look." There's so much technology coming into our lives that takes us away from the natural stuff, so I'm pushing the other way.
The world around us is in a sea change, and I think the glory of art is that it cannot only survive change, it can lead it
I have a very low regard for cynics. I think it's the beginning of dying.
All my life I've been dogged by guilt because I feel there is this difference between the way I look and the way I feel inside.
Lastly get emotionally connected to your story so you can deliver it, you know, if you can't deliver the emotions to your script there's no point to your story. Story is the key.
A lot of what acting is is paying attention.
When did Noah build the boat? - Before the rain.
I am passionate. I am political about my country, about what it is, how strong it is, how strong it remains.
Between 18 and 19 years old [in the 1950s] I came to Paris. I studied art. And that experience really did change my life. I was living hand to mouth. I walked everywhere. I thought, this city is incredible but you really have to experience it by walking it.
I don't think about when it's going to stop and what you do before it stops. You just keep moving.
As a director, I wouldn't like me as an actor. As an actor, I wouldn't like me as a director.
I guess there are different ways to handle success. You can multiply it financially and use it to multiply your net worth. That's always been very appealing to me.
What really matters is the work. And what matters to me is doing the work. I'm not looking at the back end: "What am I going to get out of this? What's going to be the reward?" I'm just looking at the work, the pleasure of being able to do the work. And that's what the fun is: To climb up the mountain is the fun, not standing at the top. There's nowhere to go. But climbing up, that struggle, that to me is where the fun is. That to me is the thrill. But once that's over, that's kind of it. I don't look too much beyond that.
I have the freedom to take chances, to say no. I have the freedom to be who I really want to be, rather than have to conform to this or that just to stay alive.
I have faith in the pendulum swinging. Right now it's so far against the wall that it can't go any farther; it's gonna start to swing back. That's my optimism. One of the cures is gonna be getting the American people to fully wake up. All the American people, particularly young people, because they're gonna inherit this earth; they're gonna inherit what we're doing.
...if our humanity - our soul as a society - is overtaken by the materiel and cosmetic, there will be no hope of peace.
I was never a good student. I had to be dragged into kindergarten. It was hard to sit and listen to somebody talk. I wanted to be out, educated by experience and adventure, and I didn't know how to express that.
The technology available for film-making now is incredible, but I am a big believer that it's all in the story.
Politics right now is in a very dark place, and I think the only place for me is to do what I do - make films, create art, watch it as it evolves. Right now it's like Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall, and a great fall is happening. The behavior seems to be really dumb.
'Butch Cassidy' was the only film I ever enjoyed making.
Be careful of success; it has a dark side.
I'm gonna die but I haven't thought about retiring.
I can't think of anything outside of having the gift yourself and creating yourself. I can't think of the next better thing to do than being able to put it back. Creative expression, I think, is vital to the success of any society.... A society without art will die.
If you could ever do a project that really has magic in it, and justifiable magic, you should do it.
If we want energy security, then we have to reduce our appetite for fossil fuels. There's no other way. Other issues may crowd the headlines, but this is our fundamental challenge. Big challenges require bold action and leadership. To get the United States off fossil fuels in this uneasy national climate of terrorism and conflict in the Persian Gulf, we must treat the issue with the urgence and persistance it deserves. The measure of our success will be the condition on which we leave the world for the next generation.
