Sometimes rejection in life is really redirection.
We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.
The film's title You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train. comes from something I used to say in teaching my students "This is not going to be a neutral class." The world is already moving in certain directions and wars are going on and children are going hungry. Terrible things are happening. And so to be neutral in a situation like this is to collaborate with whatever is going on. And I don't want to collaborate with the world as it is. I want to intrude myself. I want to participate in changing the direction of things. So that's the origin of the title.
I keep telling you the future isn't set in stone. It's not all decided yet. The future is just what's down the road we decided to walk on today. You can change roads anytime. And that changes where you end up.
Look forward, not back. Correct your course and go on. You cannot undo yesterday's journey.
No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.
Forget the past, and ask me what's next.
When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.
I made my first film when I was 35, so I firmly believe that you don't have to be one thing in life. If you're doing something, and you have a desire to do something different, give it a try.
Every sailor knows that you can't sail a ship that isn't moving forward, strong leaders understand that to change direction, you first have to create forward progress.
There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.
We have to confront the reality of our world, and make the hard decisions about which way we want to move forward.
If you want to sail your ship in a different direction, you must turn one degree at a time.
It's about one moment. It's about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back.
I tend to change research direction every few years or so.
In terms of quantity, we've probably already reached the limit of what's feasible. I think a change of direction may be what's needed.
On a career level, I always advise people to look ahead and be open to changes in direction. That job that seems so good now can easily turn into a nightmare if you do not see the possible corners it can land you in.
There is an odd synchronicity in the way parallel lives veer to touch one another, change direction, and then come close again and again until they connect and hold for whatever it was that fate intended to happen.
The time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo.
Now we have to hit them from a different angle.
I just stepped off the show biz bus and changed gears.
I went around the corner to motion pictures.
Most people are rowing against the current of life. Instead of turning the boat around, all they need to do is let go of the oars.
I wanted to be an actor, and when that day happened that was sort of like the end. Now let it take me.
