Quotes By Spike Lee

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

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

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

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'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.

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.

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

We grew up in a very creative environment and were exposed to the arts at a very young age, so it's not a surprise that all of us are in some form of the arts.

I always give the example, if you turn on the radio today, black radio, Lenny Kravitz is not black. Bob Marley wasn't black: in the beginning, only white college stations played Bob Marley.

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.

Fight the power that be. Fight the power.

My grandmother lived to be 100 years old. Her grandmother was a slave, yet she was a college graduate in the Spellman class of 1917. She taught art for 50 years and she saved her Social Security checks for her children's education.

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.

There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.

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.