A screenplay is not a finished product; a novel is. A screenplay is a blueprint for something - for a building that will most likely never be built.

Actors will change their face, will change their hair, will change their voice, will disappear into the role. A movie star doesn't disappear.

An actor is someone who pretends to be somebody else. A movie star is somebody who pretends that somebody else is them.

Art doesn't just happen by accident. It is about pulling out new tricks and trying new things.

The director is a bit analogous to the conductor of a symphony orchestra. It's a collaborative adventure.

The first thing that put me on the map was my Sherlock Holmes novel.

There are moments in one's life where you look back and you say, 'Well, I wish I had done this differently.'

As a writer, you have control of the words you put on the page. But once that manuscript leaves your hand, you give control to the reader. As a director, you are limited by everything: weather, budget, and egos.

I was always a filmmaker before I was anything else. If I was always anything, I was a storyteller, and it never really made much of a difference to me what medium I worked in.

Schools and libraries are the twin cornerstones of a civilized society. Libraries are only good if people use them, like books only exist when someone reads them.

Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then, with supreme confidence, determination and disregard for obstacles and other people's criticisms, carry out your plan.

Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.

Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success.

Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon... must inevitably come to pass!

Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses... on your powers, instead of your problems.

Success is the progressive realization of predetermined, worthwhile, personal goals.

Consider every mistake you do make as an asset.

Do a little bit more than average and from that point on our progress multiplies itself out of all proportion to the effort put in.

If you are not making the progress that you would like to make and are capable of making, it is simply because your goals are not clearly defined.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that raises the dough.