Any story that Billy Wilder told, you can tell in a Western.

But, I think that the reason I responded to this book, sort of paradoxically, is that it starts out like The Big Chill, sort of. Four friends, who are not quite happy with their life, and every year they get together for a week and look for some comfort from each other.

Almost every other Western in the last ten years has failed, since Dances with Wolves.

You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man.

I loved Alien, and I loved Carrie, and I loved The Exorcist - those were big movies for me. They were just brilliantly done, and unusual, and they all took horror to some new place.

I tell you, I feel like a real novice as far as horror goes.

That was certainly true the first time, when I did Body Heat, the first movie that I directed. I was looking for a vessel to tell a certain kind of story, and I was a huge fan of Film Noir, and what I liked about it was that it was so extreme in style.

And you know, when you take on something like this, you read a book like this, you know that it's going to be an adventure. That's part of what draws you to it.

I mean, the trouble with some of the kind of relationship movies I've done, is there's only so many ways you can shoot a conversation. I was really tired of talking heads.

The movies that made me want to make movies were action movies, and thrillers, and Kurosawa films, you know, where you have an opportunity every day to shoot it in an unusual way. I was looking for something like that.

Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life.

I want everything I do to have humor in it, because it seems to me that all of life has that.

I mean, I really liked those guys and the experience of doing Raiders was really good for me, but I did not really want to be involved - I only did Jedi, as I really owed George a favor.

I didn't really want to do another sequel. I go to those movies, and I just sort of enjoy them like a viewer.

But, George and Steven asked me to write the Indiana Jones sequels, and I didn't want to.

Any story that Billy Wilder told, you can tell in a Western.

It's hard enough to get any movie made, and when you take on these tough genres - and I've done it a couple times - it just makes the whole struggle more.

With Westerns you have the landscape is important, and it's empty, and only you populate it. When you populate it, you can tell any kind story that Shakespeare told, you can tell in a Western.

The kind of pace that you want to use in a Western - just to acknowledge the land in the distance that everyone has to travel, and the way things develop sort of slowly - it's almost the antithetical of what's currently going on in the movies, you know.

What you hope for, like Unforgiven did a lot to give you a chance to do it again sometime.

You know, Stephen says, in the movies no one ever goes to the bathroom. They shave, they brush their teeth. He goes right at this sort of funny taboo we have about the bathroom, and he turned it into this nightmare, you know, your worst fear of what's in there.

I really liked Carrie a lot. That was one of Brian De Palma's best movies.

The great thing about Stephen is that he sees the movie as a separate thing, I think. He wants it to capture the essence of the book, and if he feels that's been done, then he's not too particular about the details. I think that's why he's happy.

I haven't seen Clones, which has been during this period when I haven't seen much of anything, but I did see Phantom Menace, and see my feelings about it - see, first of all, I think that when you make a lot of movies, your attitude about the movies changes.

Abortion and racism are evil twins, born of the same lie. Where racism now hides its face in public, abortion is accomplishing the goals of which racism only once dreamed. Together, abortionists are destroying humanity at large and the black community in particular.

I had no desire to be famous; I just wanted to make the greatest music ever made. I didn't want anyone to know who I was.

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.

I always lived in old buildings, and I thought about who lived here before. You'd have to be oblivious not to.

I want to see America thrive. I want to see all different families here succeed.

The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system.

Nations cannot endure in sin.

I was 19 or 20 when The Beatles were at their peak, and I was coming up to the peak of my career, too. I was also the first footballer to have long hair, and that's how I got my nickname 'the Fifth Beatle.'

Whatever God or whatever higher power you believe in, they brought us to this earth in a perfect way, and you have to learn to love yourself. Otherwise, it's an exhausting way to be.

My story wasn't one of those cliched stories of being an ugly duckling, I had a pretty good time at school. But then I think being six foot by the age of 15 meant that I couldn't help but be noticed, and that was when my physical being felt quite painful - I could not any longer walk into a room without being noticed.

Everybody is going to have their critics. Its easy to get discouraged in life.

I'm not sure there's a difference between books that affected the way I see the world and books that influenced me as a writer.

In Syria, while secretary of state, Clinton watched as United Nations resolution after U.N. resolution failed. She accomplished nothing except to repeat the refrain, 'Assad must go.'

Investors can see that Facebook is feeling old and tired and isn't seeming to be that innovative.

I believe love's grip transcends gender. It transcends everything short of a very few primal needs like hunger, thirst, a need for oxygen.

Someday they may cure MS, that idiot thing. It gets in there and they can't get it out.

Any songs that I like, I sort of rinse them out.

Great art is an escape from the agony of why.

When we talk about safety and security of the American people, politics falls aside pretty quickly.

I would love to be a sleeper, but I'm not. I'm usually up pretty early, even if I've been out the night before.

I loved hip-hop. The first stuff I heard was Public Enemy, and I couldn't believe it. It was amazing, and I've always loved hip-hop.

What can a pencil do for all of us? Amazing things. It can write transcendent poetry, uplifting music, or life-changing equations; it can sketch the future, give life to untold beauty, and communicate the full-force of our love and aspirations.

If Americans are reluctant to go on the dole that's because they have a healthy work ethic.

I could write an entertaining novel about rejection slips, but I fear it would be overly long.