American Quotes

I'm one of those regular weird people.

Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers.

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.

You have to be involved and relate to the characters in order to make a film that is true emotionally.

The invention of the iPod changes how you use music. Suddenly you have music everywhere.

On everything I do I'm always taking someone's money, whether it's a movie studio or a record label. Somebody's paying for it, and I'm always respectful of that. But I'm never going to compromise.

Music is thousands and thousands of years old and I don't think that basic, primitive connection to the language of music ever changes.

Kids are so fiercely opinionated, that if they love the Harry Potter books and they go see the movie, they'll be the first to say, 'That was wrong! They didn't get that right!' They're storytellers themselves. They're critics. They're going to have the critical opinion.

It's fun when you start a movie, because it's kind of like you get to go Christmas shopping... you get to make your wish list and you start thinking about what each character needs.

If you focus your energy on the camera, it takes away from the time you have to focus on the performances.

If you compromise what you're trying to do just a little bit, you'll end up compromising a little more the next day or the next week, and when you lift your head you're suddenly really far away from where you're trying to go.

If I can make one generalised statement, and generalised statements are never entirely true, nobody wants to be talked down to, kids included.

I'm not one to intellectualize why I did something.

I think the way kids create is so inspiring. They're drawing a picture? They love the picture they drew; they're not tortured about it.

I think because I'm not a parent, my most immediate connection to childhood is my memory of my own childhood.

I think at the beginning of a project, you decide if you're in love with the idea and what it's about, or what you think it's about at that time at least. Then you commit to it, and once you've commit to it no matter what, no matter how many self doubts you have, you're in it. The ship's sailed, you

I like the idea of the documentary as a portrait. There's not a chronological beginning, middle, and end structure. You build something in the editing room that's shaped by getting to know the person and digging deeper, unpeeling the layers of them as you get to know them.

I like naps. I don't drink coffee.

I like hiring people based on a feeling - this person gets it - rather than what they've done in the past.

I just want to make whatever is exciting.

I feel like you only have so much time to make stuff. I'm definitely aware of that. I'm also excited about it.

I don't understand the whole testing-numbers thing. It is not how I want to make movies.

Felt is not the easiest thing to animate. It's very flimsy.

Emotions are messy and hard to figure out.

Doing a documentary is about discovering, being open, learning, and following curiosity.

As a parent, your perspective of childhood is through the eyes of this person that you care so much about and you just want the world to be great for them. You want their life to be easy and happy.

I think, as you're growing up, your emotions are just as deep as they are when you're an adult. You're ability to feel lonely, longing, confused or angry are just as deep. We don't feel things more as we get older.

I definitely enjoy getting to know people I find inspiring.

No one ever found wisdom without also being a fool. Writers, alas, have to be fools in public, while the rest of the human race can cover its tracks.

My generation was not only maligned in book reviews and attacked in graduate school but we lived to see our adored and adorable daughters wonder why feminism had become a dirty word.