No society has been able to abolish human sadness no political system can deliver us from the pain of living from our fear of death our thirst for the absolute. It is the human condition that directs the social condition not vice versa.

Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death.

All my freakouts have been pretty private and directed at family pets and/or people I have been dating for too short a time to freak out at in that way.

I look at my little girl and I wonder what she's going to be and what she's going to do and what is it that leads girls certain directions in life. I think a lot of that goes back to what kind of father they had and so it makes me want to be the best dad I can possibly be.

My dad served in the Air Force as ground crew for several years and doesn't really talk about it. I know that it's there. I think my main thing about direct or indirect experiences as near to home as it were is the idea of self-sacrifice really.

Whenever I'm in theatre situations I will go out of my way not to talk about my father but in the film world I can be really proud of my family and say 'You know what: my dad's a really really famous theatre director ' because nobody has any idea.

I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.

My dad's sense of humor was direct and sometimes surreal - his quick wit is well known amongst our family and friends. He raised me on Spike Jones records and W.C. Fields movies and his sense of humor fell somewhere in between.

I stayed in Baghdad every summer until I was 14. My dad's sister is still there but many of my relatives have managed to get out. People forget that there are still people there who are not radicalized in any particular direction trying to live normal lives in a very difficult situation.

When somebody who makes movies for a living - either as an actor writer producer or director - lives to be a certain age you have to admire them. It is an act of courage to make a film - a courage for which you are not prepared in the rest of life. It is very hard and very destructive. But we do it because we love it.