Todd Haynes Quotes

I love my friends and my past, and it's made me who I am.

I look at the past and I see myself.

She's not perfect, but she tries so hard for me. And I thank God, that she isn't, cause how boring that would be.

Every hour spent on the Caine was a great hour in all our lives-if you don't think so now you will later on, more and more.

We were younger. And it's basically like looking at football classics. You see things that you did, you see things that you could've done better and you think about all the good relationships that you had with the cast.

That's a part of me going back to what I used to do.

I realize how unique my path has been. And I'm thankful for that.

When I look back at the 1980s I pinch myself. Did I really do all that?

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

I go on the Internet and look at old pictures of myself, because it is the best reminder of how far I have come and where I do not want to be.

I can no more reread my own books than I can watch old home movies or look at snapshots of myself as a child. I wind up sitting on the floor, paralyzed by grief and nostalgia.

We would go back and maybe not say that thing to our dad that we said, or maybe be a little nicer to someone who we cared about and had a relationship with when we were young. You know, they're subtle things, but we carry those with us forever. And I think that regret and time travel are intrinsically linked to me.

I shouldn't be right for every role, because I'm not.

I got the best of Rod. And I am fully aware that, even though I love listening to his stories of the crazy days, no relationship could really last then. I sometimes wish I could go back in time to the 1970s or 1980s, sit at a bar, and observe him, but I'm glad our time came when it did.

A lot of times as an actor you watch a film it's like thumbing through a photo book from your past. It's people you haven't seen in a while, there are people that have passed away, and there are people you owe phone calls to.

Flaws are really interesting.

What makes Butler truly unique is the people that we have been so blessed to work with.

How am I different than anyone else? I'm a human being, and I have my faults, too.

I've started to see records as just a snapshot, a portrait of where you were at at that time. And if you're comfortable with that, sometimes it's like an old high school year book picture - it makes you blush a little bit, but you gotta learn to really appreciate each stage of your life and where you're at.

I look forward and see myself look back.

The Bhagavad Gita—that ancient Indian Yogic text—says that it is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection. So now I have started living my own life. Imperfect and clumsy as it may look, it is resembling me now, thoroughly.

The important thing is to find what's unique about yourself, find what's unique about someone else. And embrace everything in the moment, as opposed to constantly comparing yourself and your lover and your relationship to a static set of expectations.

As I look back over my life, I've been an active person - obviously I was self-absorbed for a period of time.

When you're going over periods of your life, you remember certain things, certain events, certain people that you've forgotten. You've forgotten certain lessons or people you were very close to, and then you haven't seen them in a while. I think if you can go through life with the correct regrets, then looking back on it, like I did, a certain portion of my life is pretty enjoyable. All my regrets are ones that I'd like to keep.

That which is unique and worthwhile in us makes itself felt only in flashes. If we do not know how to catch and savor the flashes we are without growth and exhilaration.