Quotes By Spike Lee

People think I'm this angry black man walking around in a constant state of rage.

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.

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.

And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels.

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.

What's the difference between Hollywood characters and my characters? Mine are real.

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

Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest.

I think it would be very boring dramatically to have a film where everybody was a lawyer or doctor and had no faults. To me, the most important thing is to be truthful.

Any time you talk about the look of the film, it's not just the director and the director of photography. You have to include the costume designer and the production designer.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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