Spike Lee quotes
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“I believe in destiny. But I also believe that you can’t just sit back and let destiny happen. A lot of times, an opportunity might fall into your lap, but you have to be ready for that opportunity. You can’t sit there waiting on it. A lot of times you are going to have to get out there and make it happen.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I think there's a lot of hope in my work. I don't think I'm a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films. Some more than others, but there's definitely... I think we want to convey the feeling of hope with the montage at the end.”
-- Spike Lee -
“'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 -
“Most human beings will not stand in front of a stage and tell you about the bad things they did.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“He revolutionized music videos. Before Michael Jackson, MTV refused to play African-American artists.”
-- Spike Lee -
“American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.”
-- Spike LeeSource : Twitter post from Dec 22, 2012
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“I'm just trying to tell a good story and make thought-provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“You gotta make your own way. You gotta find a way. You gotta get it done. It's hard. It's tough. That's what I tell my students every day in class. I've been very fortunate. Some people might call me a hardhead, but I'm not going to let other people dictate to me who I should be or the stories I should tell. That doesn't register with me.”
-- Spike LeeSource : "Spike Lee Talks to Indiewire: 'I’m not going to let other people dictate the stories I tell'". Interview with Eric Kohn, www.indiewire.com. January 16, 2012.
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“All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“Making films has got to be one of the hardest endeavors known to humankind.”
-- Spike LeeSource : Spike Lee, Lisa Jones (1989). “Do the Right Thing: A Spike Lee Joint”, p.100, Simon and Schuster
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“What's the difference between Hollywood characters and my characters? Mine are real.”
-- Spike Lee -
“The truth is I've been doing Kickstarter before there was Kickstarter; there was no Internet. Social Media was writing letters, making phone calls, beating the bushes.”
-- Spike Lee -
“We’ve gone through the names—Negro, African American, African, Black. For me that’s an indication of a people still trying to find their identity. Who determines what is black?”
-- Spike Lee -
“It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work...”
-- Spike LeeSource : "NAACP Image Awards: The Winners" by Arlene Washington, www.hollywoodreporter.com. February 6, 2015.
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“A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there.”
-- Spike Lee -
“Since the days of slavery, if you were a good singer or dancer, it was your job to perform for the master after dinner.”
-- Spike Lee -
“If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they're killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We'd not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.”
-- Spike Lee -
“Music is, for me, a great tool of a filmmaker, the same way cinematography, the acting, editing, post-production, the costumes are. You know, to help you tell a story.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“Our greatness, our talent has never been the question. It's been a matter of grappling for control over what we do.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I used the principles of Kickstarter to make 'She's Gotta Have It.' We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn't have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit.”
-- Spike Lee -
“America doesn't have the moral right to tell other people what to do. To say the whole world has to fall into line is you-know-what. I hope more people will rise up.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“I collect names for characters. Names are valuable; they can be your first source of insight into a character.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“Right now a lot of people are still choosing to go to Toronto instead of shooting in New York City, something I haven't done and something I hope I'll never have to do.”
-- Spike Lee -
“And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“A woman who is very secure in herself, what she's about, what she wants to do, who probably figures that she's a prize catch-sooner or later he's going to come around.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“Any film I do is not going to change the way black women have been portrayed, or black people have been portrayed, in cinema since the days of D.W. Griffith.”
-- Spike Lee -
“It has been my observation that parents kill more dreams than anybody.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I don't think I'm a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“I don't like acting; not in front of the camera.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I am a hybrid. I do independent films and also do Hollywood films - I love them both.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“Everything I do is always scrutinised. But that's all I'll say about that.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.”
-- Spike Lee -
“A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I don't dictate, you don't dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I had a great education. From kindergarten to John Dewey High School in Coney Island, I am public-school educated.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“'She's Gotta Have It' was shot in twelve days and two six-day weeks.”
-- Spike Lee -
“You have to do the research. If you don't know about something, then you ask the right people who do.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I tend to favour films that have multiple plot and story lines, multiple characters and ensemble pieces.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“I live in New York City, the stories of my films take place in New York; I'm a New York filmmaker.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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 LeeSource : "Q&A: Spike Lee on 'Oldboy,' Remakes, Atonement & 'Inside Man 2'". Interview with Simon Abrams, www.esquire.com. November 20, 2013.
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“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I don't think racism can be eliminated in my lifetime ... or my children's or grandchildren's. But I think it's something we have to strive for. I'm going to keep working toward that day coming.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“As a writer I want everybody to get a chance to voice their opinions. If each character thinks that they're telling the truth, then it's valid. Then at the end of the film, I leave it up to the audience to decide who did the right thing.”
-- Spike Lee -
“Cause mo better makes it mo better.”
-- Spike LeeSource : "Fictional Character: Clarke Bentancourt". "Mo' Better Blues ", www.imdb.com. 1990.
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“I may have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night.”
-- Spike LeeSource : "Fictional character: Bleek". "Mo' Better Blues", www.imdb.com. 1990.
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“I've never seen black men with fine white women. They be ugly. Mugly dogs.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“We've got to turn this backward thinking around where ignorance is championed over intelligence. Young black kids being ridiculed by their peers for getting A's and speaking proper English: that's criminal.”
-- Spike Lee -
“My people, my people, what can I say; say what I can. I saw it but didn't believe it; I didn't believe what I saw. Are we gonna live together? Together are we gonna live?”
-- Spike Lee -
“If you have a talented family, you should be shot if you don't use them.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I consider Madonna a friend, and she sure knows how to work the publicity machine. Of course, I don't have breasts. If I did have, I'd be in the number one spot over Madonna.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I'm an independent filmmaker with complete creative control of my films. I hire who I want. I have final cut. But at the same time, I go directly to Hollywood for financing and distribution. I find it's best for me to work within the Hollywood system.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I decided to be a filmmaker between my sophomore and junior years at Morehouse. Before I left for the summer of 1977, my advisor told me I really had to declare a major when I came back, because I'd used all my electives in my first two years. I went back to New York and I couldn't find a job. There were none to be had. And that previous Christmas someone gave me a Super-8 camera, so I just started to shoot stuff.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“Sex and racism have always been tied together. Look at the thousands of black men who got lynched and castrated. The reason the Klan came into being was to protect white southern women.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I don't think my films are going to get rid of racism or prejudice. I think the best thing my films can do is provoke discussion.”
-- Spike LeeSource : Spike Lee, Cynthia Fuchs (2002). “Spike Lee: Interviews”, p.26, Univ. Press of Mississippi
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“Those that'll tell don't know, and those that know won't tell.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I don't get tripped up in technology. I use technology as a tool. 'Oldboy' we shot Two Pro 35mm. For 'Da Blood of Jesus,' we shot digitally. We shot the new Sony F55. It's a 4K camera.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“Do the Right Thing' was my first union film. I looked at the rosters, and for the most part, it was white males. Especially the Teamsters. So we had some conversations.”
-- Spike Lee -
“We're the most violent nation on earth. There's no getting away from that. But you've got to look at it on a broader level.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I give interracial couples a look. Daggers. They get uncomfortable when they see me on the street.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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 -
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“I've been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people who otherwise don't have access to power and the media. I have to take advantage of that while I'm still bankable.”
-- Spike LeeSource : Spike Lee, Cynthia Fuchs (2002). “Spike Lee: Interviews”, p.8, Univ. Press of Mississippi
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“Critics like to build you up, tear you down, and then, if you're lucky, build you up again.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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 Morris College in Atlanta, Georgia.”
-- Spike Lee -
“Because many advances have happened, we've lost the urgency (and that's just human nature) that we had before, when we couldn't vote, couldn't use mass transportation, or drink from the fountains.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“There’s always been this hocus-pocus or magical, mystical thing associated with the making of film that sort of psyches people out and makes them think that this cannot be done; that this is a craft that cannot be learned.”
-- Spike Lee -
“As a people we do not need anyone else's stamp of approval.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“It is really important that young people find something that they want to do and pursue it with passion. I'm very passionate about filmmaking. It's what I love to do.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I think the best actors in the world are here in New York City. And this city is just so vibrant the energy is just phenomenal. Great crews here. All the technicians, all the artists that work in this industry. I've just been very happy with the body that we've been able to do, especially those films we shot here in New York City.”
-- Spike Lee -
“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.”
-- Spike Lee -
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“I ain't Martin Luther King. I don't need a dream. I have a plan.”
-- Spike Lee -
“I've got "Sometimers." Sometimes I remember and sometimes I forget.”
-- Spike Lee -
“People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world.”
-- Spike LeeSource : "Spike Lee Talks Obama, the End of Mookie's Brooklyn, and the Hollywood Color Line". Interview with Will Leitch, www.vulture.com. July 8, 2012.
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