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" '25th Hour,' like a lot of my films, takes place in New York City. I've been very fortunate to make films in the city that I live. I mean, it's great going home at night instead of being on location. "

Spike Lee

Night

City

Great

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

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

" I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten. "

" 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. "

" I don't like acting; not in front of the camera. "

" 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. "

" 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 didn't dream about being a director. I didn't know I wanted to do something with film until the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. "

" I'm blessed, I can afford to send my children to private school. "

" A spine to my films that's become more evident to me is that many are about the choices people make, and the reverberations of those choices. You go this way, or that way, and either way, there's going to be consequences. "

Spike Lee

Consequences

Choices

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

" All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love. "

" Violence is a part of America. I don't want to single out rap music. Let's be honest. America's the most violent country in the history of the world, that's just the way it is. We're all affected by it. "

" 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. "

" A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there. "

" 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 respect the audience's intelligence a lot, and that's why I don't try to go for the lowest common denominator. "

Spike Lee

Respect

Intelligence

" 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. "

" 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 tend to favour films that have multiple plot and story lines, multiple characters and ensemble pieces. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels. "

" First of all, what in this world does not revolve around money? But money is a big part of film, unlike a lot of other art forms. "

" I had a great education. From kindergarten to John Dewey High School in Coney Island, I am public-school educated. "

" Amongst black people, you have always heard it said that once a black man reaches a certain level, especially if you are an entertainer, you get a white trophy woman. I didn't make that up. "

" People sometimes forget all the films that we've done. They remember the likes of 'Malcolm X' and 'Do the Right Thing.' But I've been working since 1986. From the beginning, I was determined to not just be a flash in the pan. I've got to keep up with Woody Allen. He's lapping me. "

" My cousin Malcolm Lee is also a filmmaker. "

" 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. "

" I'm very careful about how I portray violence in my films. I do believe that violence, especially violent video games, are not a good thing for young kids. "