Quotes By Spike Lee

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.

Since the days of slavery, if you were a good singer or dancer, it was your job to perform for the master after dinner.

I don't think I'm a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films.

I get offered to do stuff where the money's nice but it's not something I want to do - I get offered a lot of commercials too.

When I went to school, you had to take art, you had to play an instrument. You had to play an instrument. But it's all degraded since then. I do not know what kind of nation we are that is cutting art, music, and gym out of the public-school curriculum.