I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

For some strange reason we don't go to charming, light movies anymore. People expect a movie to be heavy and turgid, like 'American Beauty.' We've become a hea…

I still don't look at movies twice. It's funny, I just feel I got it the first time. With music it's different. People respond so differently to the whole issu…

It's sometimes discouraging to see all of a director's movies, because there's so much repetition. The auteurists took this to be a sign of a director's artist…

And we must beg Homer and the other poets not to be angry if we strike out these and similar passages, not because they are unpoetical, or unattractive to the …

The arts alone give direct access to experience. To eliminate them from education--or worse, to tolerate them as cultural ornaments--is antieducational obscura…

Art hath an enemy called Ignorance.