Lee: "Fight the power that be. Fight the power."

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."

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

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."

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

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."

Lee: "I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect."

Lee: "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."

Lee: "You have to do the research. If you don't know about something, then you ask the right people who do."

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."

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

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."

Lee: "Everything I do is always scrutinised. But that's all I'll say about that."

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."

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