"I just don't like the separatism that comes from religion, and, without fail, the need to put your beliefs on someone else. When you start telling someone else how to live, you should check yourself, man."

"I think someone's conversation, whether in e-mail or in person, should be private."

"Certainly the attrition rate of Hollywood couples looms large."

"I tell all the young guys, don't make choices because somebody else is telling you it's good from a career-maintenance perspective."

"Family - and certainly kids and a stable relationship - is something bigger than yourself. They need you to sit down with them, be there for them when they wake up in the middle of the night."

"So much of making movies is about discovery on the day, what you're figuring out. If you know everything going in, then it's not worth doing - it's already done."

"It might be a very human thing across the board, but we, in America, love a story - we need a story to get involved in. But then everything becomes more about how the story protects a certain perception as we pick sides."

"The Internet has done a wonderful thing for us. But democracy doesn't work unless people are well informed, and I don't know that we are. People just don't have the time."

"I am obsessively bent on quality - to an unhealthy degree."

"I'm an Obama supporter, no question. But it doesn't mean there's nothing to learn from the other side."

"We sometimes let ourselves be rated too much by others - we put so much emphasis on a paycheck or what a magazine says."

"Seeing the world is the best education you can get. You see sorrow, and you also see great spirit and will to survive."

"What we're seeing now is that greed is still alive and kicking, and banks are bigger than ever."

"I see religion more as a truck stop on your way to figuring out who you are."

"On the phone, it's about as intimate as it can get. The person's right in your ear. You got to be careful on the phone. You can leave yourself wide open"

"I wouldn't run for President. I wouldn't want to move to a smaller house."

"Smack in the centre of contradiction is the place to be."

"Feelings are much stronger than thoughts. We are all led by instinct, and our intellect catches up later"

"To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater."

"The Harmonica is the world’s best-selling musical instrument. You’re welcome."

"The sun's not yellow, its chicken!"

"I just don't hear anyone else making the music I'm making in my head, so I'll have to do it myself."

"Look at the sun sinkin' like a ship. Ain't that just like my heart, babe. When you kissed my lips?"

"I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay."