I liked to work in a shop down in the basement and invent things and build gadgets.

I realized I probably wouldn't make another film that cuts through commercial and creative things like 'Godfather' or 'Apocalypse.'

I remember teachers who really singled me out for their discouragement.

I thought I wanted to be a playwright because I was interested in stories and telling stories.

I wanted to write and direct movies and not be forced to adapt them from a bestselling book.

I was never sloppy with other people's money. Only my own. Because I figure, well, you can be.

I was the kind of kid that had some talents or ability, but it never came out in school.

I'm no longer dependent on the movie business to make a living. So if I want to make movies as other old guys would play golf, I can.

In a sense, I think a movie is really a little like a question and when you make it, that's when you get the answer.

Listen, if there's one sure-fire rule that I have learned in this business, it's that I don't know anything about human nature.

Most filmmakers can't afford to try something out that doesn't work.

My film is not a movie; it's not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.

Ten Days That Shook The World, by Eisenstein, I went to see it, and I was so impressed with this film, so impressed with what cinema could do.

The internet in hotels should be free - and I really resent it when they charge you five dollars for a bottle of water beside your bed.

The most adventurous thing I've done is learn how to fly a helicopter in the Philippines. One night we landed on a beach and slept on it.

Usually, the stuff that's your best idea or work is going to be attacked the most.

We do things for good reasons that are bad.

I wrote the script of Patton. I had this very bizarre opening where he stands up in front of an American flag and gives this speech. Ultimately, I was fired. When the script was done, they hired another writer and that script was forgotten.

It's ironic that at age 32, at probably the greatest moment of my career, with The Godfather having such an enormous success, I wasn't even aware of it, because I was somewhere else under the deadline again.

The stuff that I got in trouble for, the casting for The Godfather or the flag scene in Patton, was the stuff that was remembered, and was considered the good work.