Top 100 Spike Lee Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn’t intend to be there.”

— Spike Lee

52. “I used the principles of Kickstarter to make ‘She’s Gotta Have It.’ We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn’t have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit.”

— Spike Lee

53. “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

54. “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

55. “I knew I was never going to play professional sport, but I loved playing and I went to all the games I could afford to.”

— Spike Lee

56. “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

57. “If you have a talented family, you should be shot if you don’t use them.”

— Spike Lee

58. “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

59. “People sometimes forget all the films that we’ve done. They remember the likes of ‘Malcolm X’ and ‘Do the Right Thing.’ But I’ve been working since 1986. From the beginning, I was determined to not just be a flash in the pan. I’ve got to keep up with Woody Allen. He’s lapping me.”

— Spike Lee

60. “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

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

— Spike Lee

62. “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

63. “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

64. “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

65. “I tend to favour films that have multiple plot and story lines, multiple characters and ensemble pieces.”

— Spike Lee

66. “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

67. “I don’t get tripped up in technology. I use technology as a tool. ‘Oldboy’ we shot Two Pro 35mm. For ‘Da Blood of Jesus,’ we shot digitally. We shot the new Sony F55. It’s a 4K camera.”

— Spike Lee

68. “I’ll be vilified if I shoot a film in Toronto for New York. And rightfully so!”

— Spike Lee

69. “I am a hybrid. I do independent films and also do Hollywood films – I love them both.”

— Spike Lee

70. “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

71. “Making films has got to be one of the hardest endeavors known to humankind.”

— Spike Lee

72. “He revolutionized music videos. Before Michael Jackson, MTV refused to play African-American artists.”

— Spike Lee

73. “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

74. “And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels.”

— Spike Lee

75. “My cousin Malcolm Lee is also a filmmaker.”

— Spike Lee

76. “Our greatness, our talent has never been the question. It’s been a matter of grappling for control over what we do.”

— Spike Lee

77. “I didn’t dream about being a director. I didn’t know I wanted to do something with film until the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Morris College in Atlanta, Georgia.”

— Spike Lee

78. “I like people to look like they’re floating.”

— Spike Lee

79. “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

80. “I don’t dictate, you don’t dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully.”

— Spike Lee

81. “I don’t think I’m a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films.”

— Spike Lee

82. “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

83. “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.”

— Spike Lee

84. “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

85. “I don’t like acting; not in front of the camera.”

— Spike Lee

86. “I think if people looked at my body of work, they’d see a great breadth of work.”

— Spike Lee

87. “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

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

— Spike Lee

89. “When I went to school, you had to take art, you had to play an instrument. You had to play an instrument. But it’s all degraded since then. I do not know what kind of nation we are that is cutting art, music, and gym out of the public-school curriculum.”

— Spike Lee

90. “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

91. “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

92. “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

93. “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

94. “I’ve always tried to – when I’ve been able to – support young artists, no matter what medium.”

— Spike Lee

95. “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

96. “I’m surprised that Hollywood and networks have not been diverse as other industries.”

— Spike Lee

97. “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

98. “Amongst black people, you have always heard it said that once a black man reaches a certain level, especially if you are an entertainer, you get a white trophy woman. I didn’t make that up.”

— Spike Lee

99. “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

100. “Everything I do is always scrutinised. But that’s all I’ll say about that.”

— Spike Lee