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When you're reading Thoreau you look at Hollywood differently, let me tell ya!

But what I was going to say was, I just figured I'm going to go boldly in the direction of my dreams, say it as Thoreau would say, and just see where it takes me.

As a writer, you have to be near people and hear stuff. I'm a hamburger and cheese kind of fellow; I'm not Henry David Thoreau.

We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say.

Henry David Thoreau was an oddball job quitter and ne'er-do-well who evolved into the bearded sage of literature, natural history, and civil liberties.

The other thing that happened in 1883 was my reading of Thoreau's Walden.

I like the story about Henry David Thoreau, who, when he was on his death bed, his family sent for a minister. The minister said, 'Henry, have you made your peace with God?' Thoreau said, 'I didn't know we'd quarreled.'

I grew up in Belle Harbor, which is in New York City, but it has the most powerful sense of nature and seasons. It wasn't even the beach and the water. I just dreamt about everything that had to do with nature. I read about Thoreau.

Cocteau is someone who has made such a profound impression on me that there's no doubt he's influenced every one of my films.

I'm lucky. 'Thor' has kicked off everything I'm doing, and it's been the greatest thing for me, but I am aware that I need to mix it up a bit.