Quotes by Spike Lee

“If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like theyre killing each other now. Wed not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.”

“I aint Martin Luther King. I dont need a dream. I have a plan.”

“Too many people are being bowled over by Bush and Tony Blair in Britain. Its ludicrous to expect the whole world to follow what they want.”

“I collect names for characters. Names are valuable; they can be your first source of insight into a character.”

“Critics like to build you up, tear you down, and then, if youre lucky, build you up again.”

“Our greatness, our talent has never been the question. Its been a matter of grappling for control over what we do.”

“Racism is when you have laws set up, systematically put in a way to keep people from advancing, to stop the advancement of a people. Black people have never had the power to enforce racism, and so this is something that white America is going to have to work out themselves. If they decide they want to stop it, curtail it, or to do the right thing... then it will be done, but not until then.”

“It is really important that young people find something that they want to do and pursue it with passion. Im very passionate about filmmaking. Its what I love to do.”

“[To be fair, he did convert to Islam in prison and allegedly read the great works of Western literature. And though he failed to obtain his high school equivalency degree while spending three years behind bars, there were larger lessons to absorb at the Indiana Youth Center.] You hope hes learned something, ... I think eventually hell speak out against abuse to women.”

“People could not believe, especially the residents of the Ninth Ward, that there wasnt hanky-panky in the flooding.”

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

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

I respect the audiences intelligence a lot, and thats why I dont try to go for the lowest common denominator.

If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like theyre killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. Wed not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.

I think it would be very boring dramatically to have a film where everybody was a lawyer or doctor and had no faults. To me, the most important thing is to be truthful.

A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didnt intend to be there.

I think that anyone who lives in New York, whos lived here, whos spent any time here, knows that its basically a love-hate relationship, you might say. Even though I still think its the greatest city in the world and I wouldnt live anywhere else, therere still things about it one doesnt like. The love far outweighs the negative.

Id 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.