"I don't think I would describe my sense of humor. Doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd do."

"In the course of American history, great steps are taken by ordinary people, and ordinary people are not perfect."

"I want to make movies about my country from my point of view."

"If military movies were automatically successful we'd make nothing but military movies. But seriously, patriotism is one thing that all Americans have in common."

"I'm a believer in belief. Faith is something that works - it causes people to do things, it has results. It's an intangible, indefinable, very real thing. And it moves people, sometimes to atrocity. And sometimes to survival."

"The quality of one's emotional life changes over the years, doesn't it? But the basic instincts and desires, greed and hope, seem to remain constant. In the larger scope of things, there's a sense of fulfillment to living a creative life. So I guess that's what keeps me going."