Quotes from M. Night Shyamalan

Over the course of history, the people who are not scared go into the woods and are mauled by a bear, are not going to survive.

If I'm hesitant at all about an idea, then that's not the right idea.

I have worked hard and learnt that I have to make a decision - whether I am going to conform and protect myself or not. I chose not to.

Most of the time, I don't watch classics with anybody. I have to be by myself. That's my classroom.

The muscles that writers need for film are very different from TV muscles. Now, when I hire the writers and put the writers' room together, I know where their muscles need to be.

See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?

Anime is intended to have ambiguous features. That's part of the art form.

One of the reasons I really love low budget filmmaking is you don't have to think about that as much. You can have more fun and be more playful and be freer creatively.

I love stage actors. The pool of world class actors that have done theater [is big], there's a higher opportunity of grabbing somebody from that pool.

I think I take what you might call a B-movie story, deal with B-movie subjects, and I treat it as if it's an A-movie in terms of my approach, my crew, my actors, my ethics and so on. I guess that's my trademark or one of them, anyway!

For instance, 'The Sixth Sense' had mediocre to bad reviews. Slowly, the audience pushed it and it received critical attention.

I don't want to pretend I'm any cooler or smarter than I am.

I don't like to chase an audience. You can smell when someone is chasing an audience and it's not good.

The combination of the CGI, 3-D, and sound effects, it's just impossible to separate them. It gives you a more immersive experience, and I prefer that.

When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope.

I love my stories being multi-layered, and coming at it from different angles, so that you don't understand the film's true emotional motivation until the very end.

My secret to all casting, and specifically kids, is cast good human beings.

I love 'The Killing', I love 'Homeland' and 'Mad Men', all those shows that lean into the tone of things.

There are a lot of things I can take, and a few that I can't. What I can't take is when my older brother, who's everything that I want to be, starts losing faith in things. I saw that look in your eyes last night. I don't ever want to see that look in your eyes again.

My normal cycle for movies is eighteen months and each part is separate.

Giving should be a part of your routine, just like working out, eating, and sleeping.

That's something we should be taught as kids: To be okay with ourselves.

When you say 'fear of the unknown', that is the definition of fear; fear is the unknown, fear is what you do not know, and it's genetically within us so that we feel safe. We feel scared of the woods because we're not familiar with it, and that keeps you safe.

I offer originality: you don't know what my films are like until you go to them. I think that's the reason I've been getting all this attention.