Spike Lee quotes

Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his provocative and socially conscious works. His films often explore themes of race relations, politics, and urban life in the United States. He has received numerous accolades and remains a prominent figure in contemporary cinema. Here are 68 of his quotes:

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect. (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 Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Spike Lee

Making films has got to be one of the hardest endeavors known to humankind.

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

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 don't dictate, you don't dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully.

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

A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there.

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

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

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)

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

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 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

My cousin Malcolm Lee is also a filmmaker.

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

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

Fight the power that be. Fight the power.

Spike Lee

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

Spike Lee

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

Spike Lee

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'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

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

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

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

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Spike Lee

Spike Lee - Image

Photo: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0

Occupation: American Director
Born: March 20, 1957
Quotes count: 68
Wikipedia: Spike Lee

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