Quotes By Spike Lee

I am a hybrid. I do independent films and also do Hollywood films - I love them both.

'Do the Right Thing' was my first union film. I looked at the rosters, and for the most part, it was white males. Especially the Teamsters. So we had some conversations.

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.

A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there.

If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they're killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We'd not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.

I'd like to state that Spike Lee is not saying that African American culture is just for black people alone to enjoy and cherish. Culture is for everybody.

I had a great education. From kindergarten to John Dewey High School in Coney Island, I am public-school educated.

You have to do the research. If you don't know about something, then you ask the right people who do.

Right now a lot of people are still choosing to go to Toronto instead of shooting in New York City, something I haven't done and something I hope I'll never have to do.

I think my work shows that I love women. I understand where these types of criticisms are coming from because black people have been so dogged out in the media, they're just extra sensitive.

I tend to favour films that have multiple plot and story lines, multiple characters and ensemble pieces.

I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.

Any film I do is not going to change the way black women have been portrayed, or black people have been portrayed, in cinema since the days of D.W. Griffith.

I like to work with the same people when I can, and you want to get people with the same interests that you have, and the same aesthetic.

My cousin Malcolm Lee is also a filmmaker.

I don't dictate, you don't dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully.

I knew I was never going to play professional sport, but I loved playing and I went to all the games I could afford to.

I am very fortunate I can send my kids to private school, but everybody does not have the money. If you cannot get your kid in a good school today, your kids are going to be behind the eight ball.

It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.

A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there.

I live in New York City, the stories of my films take place in New York; I'm a New York filmmaker.

There's a lot of Americans, black and white, who think that we've arrived where we need to be and nothing else needs to be done and affirmative action needs to be dismantled.

I don't like acting; not in front of the camera.

I think that every minority in the United States of America knows everything about the dominant culture. From the time you can think, you are bombarded with images from TV, film, magazines, newspapers.

People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world.

I've been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people who otherwise don't have access to power and the media. I have to take advantage of that while I'm still bankable.

It has been my observation that parents kill more dreams than anybody.

I'm blessed, I can afford to send my children to private school.

For me, I believe in God, God is real.

'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.