103+ Spike Lee Quotes On Filmmaking, Provocative And Innovative

Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He is known for his films that deal with controversial social and political issues, such as Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and BlacKkKlansman. He is also the first African-American to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Spike Lee on filmmaking, provocative, innovative.

Top 10 Spike Lee Quotes

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. I think it is very important that films make people look at what they've forgotten.
4. 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.
5. American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a holocaust. My ancestors are slaves. Stolen from Africa. I will honor them.
6. Power is knowing your past.
7. I may have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 Short Quotes

• You've really got to start hitting the books because it's no joke out here.
• A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn't intend to be there.
• I give interracial couples a look. Daggers. They get uncomfortable when they see me on the street.
• I miss my brother. Prince was a funny cat. Great sence of humor.
• I'm trying to keep up with what's happening in this turbulent world.
• When you love something it's not a job anymore.
• Everything I do is always scrutinised. But that's all I'll say about that.
• If you can't take a hit, you're not going to last long, that's for sure.
• I want to tell stories, I don't really try to get boxed in by a specific genre.
• I'm surprised that Hollywood and networks have not been diverse as other industries.

Spike Lee Quotes About Filmmaking

My cousin Malcolm Lee is also a filmmaker. — Spike Lee

I live in New York City, the stories of my films take place in New York; I'm a New York filmmaker. — 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

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

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

Spike Lee Quotes About People

As a people we do not need anyone else's stamp of approval. — 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

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

People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world. — 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

As we move toward the millennium, the year 2000, the most powerful nations are not those that have nuclear bombs, but those that control the media. That's where the battle is being fought; that is how you control people's minds. — Spike Lee

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

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

I'm always open to new, innovative stuff and people trying to do stuff in a different way. I knew that the theatrical release would be like getting on the launch pad for Amazon Prime but I was okay with that because I think what Jeff Bezos and Ted Hope are doing is innovative. — Spike Lee

I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect. — Spike Lee

Spike Lee Quotes About Black

I've never seen black men with fine white women. They be ugly. Mugly dogs. — Spike Lee

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 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

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

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

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 Lee

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

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

Spike Lee Quotes About Film

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

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

This film [Chi-Raq]is a declaration. It's a scream. It's a warning. And I can really break it down to one scene. That's the scene where we have the eulogy and sermon that is given by the great John Cusack. — Spike Lee

I don't really analyze my stuff when I write. I write about stuff that I'm interested in, that I'm feeling at that particular time. When I stand back and look at the complete work, I might see themes that run through the whole film, but I'm not really conscious of it when I'm doing it. — Spike Lee

I'll be vilified if I shoot a film in Toronto for New York. And rightfully so! — Spike Lee

If people go to IMDB, they will see that I'm very comfortable with independent cinema, and doing studio films too. For me this is not an either/or situation. — Spike Lee

I don't like to use the word 'remake', I think reinterpretation is a better word. It's just a matter of respecting the source, and then trying to make your own film, and trying not to be inhibited by being so beholden to every single thing... We respect the source, but we make changes to it. — Spike Lee

I am trying to stay away from this position of me "returning to my roots." As if my roots are that I'm only comfortable working on low-budget, small films. That's not the case at all. — Spike Lee

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

I mean, 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

Spike Lee Quotes About Work

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

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

It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work. — Spike Lee

I think if people looked at my body of work, they'd see a great breadth of work. — Spike Lee

Spike Lee Quotes About Films

I wouldn't be doing motherfu**ing films for almost three decades if every time I did something that someone didn't like I went in a fu**ing cocoon and just hid there and didn't make my art. — Spike Lee

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

You know that first of all your films have to make money no matter who you are. — Spike Lee

Spike Lee Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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 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

Our greatness, our talent has never been the question. It's been a matter of grappling for control over what we 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

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

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'm always open. I try not to have a closed mind. In fact the only reason why I'm able to continue to make films since 1986 is I have been adaptable. If I weren't flexible I sure wouldn't be making films this many years as I've been doing it. I've been making a film a year almost since 1986 and that's hard. That ain't easy. — 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

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

I'm worried just as much about Donald Trump as that crazy guy in North Korea - and he has a nuclear code. I'm worrying about that. — Spike Lee

He revolutionized music videos. Before Michael Jackson, MTV refused to play African-American artists. — Spike Lee

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

Stick around long enough, you'll get some grace. — Spike Lee

Most human beings will not stand in front of a stage and tell you about the bad things they did. — Spike Lee

I've always tried to - when I've been able to - support young artists, no matter what medium. — 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 ain't Martin Luther King. I don't need a dream. I have a plan. — Spike Lee

Critics like to build you up, tear you down, and then, if you're lucky, build you up again. — 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

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

Those that'll tell don't know, and those that know won't tell. — Spike Lee

I never understood the concept of showing everything in the trailer. Why go to a movie if there's no surprise? I can't do it like that. — Spike Lee

I really don't deal with hypotheticals. — Spike Lee

Everybody does what they want to do for their own specific reasons. — Spike Lee

Surprises are good. I'm not of the thinking where you tell the audience everything. Sometimes I don't even want to see the trailers. You see the trailer, you've seen the movie. — Spike Lee

I'm a storyteller, and there's some genres I like. I don't think I'm ever going to do science fiction, but I want to do a musical one day. I want to tell stories, I don't really try to get boxed in by a specific genre. — 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

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

Cause mo better makes it mo better. — Spike Lee

One of the great things about African-Americans is that we've always had this attitude: We make do with what we got. It comes from our ancestors being slaves. — Spike Lee

I don't see any negativity with what Brad Pitt is doing with his Make It Right Foundation, or what Sean Penn is trying to do in Haiti. — Spike Lee

If you have a talented family, you should be shot if you don't use them. — 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

I've got "Sometimers." Sometimes I remember and sometimes I forget. — Spike Lee

I'm not the go-to guy. Everybody is trying to tell their story and have different ways of telling it. — Spike Lee

I like people to look like they're floating. — 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

What's the difference between Hollywood characters and my characters? Mine are real. — Spike Lee

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

Racism in America absolutely exists - it is an issue. We need to fix it. We're a great country - probably the greatest country but we could be a hell of a lot greater. — Spike Lee

Life Lessons by Spike Lee

1. Spike Lee teaches us to be brave and unafraid to challenge the status quo. He encourages us to use our own unique voice to tell stories that are often overlooked or ignored.
2. He reminds us to take risks and to never give up on our dreams, no matter how hard it may seem.
3. He also shows us the importance of using our art to create meaningful social change and to make a positive impact in the world.