“You have to view things in the context of your life expectancy.” — Francis Ford Coppola

“Wisdom and love have nothing to do with each other. Wisdom is staying alive, survival. You’re wise if you don’t stick your finger in the light plug. Love — you’ll stick your finger in anything.” — Robert Altman

“I take myself seriously. I respect myself because, frankly, some people invest a lot of energy in disrespecting me.”
— Oliver Stone

“Most monster movies are not horror movies. They’re about outsiders. I never saw Frankenstein or King Kong or the Creature from the Black Lagoon as bad guys. They were the good guys. It was always the humans that were the motherfuckers. It was the bad B-movie actor dressed in a rubber suit who made me almost cry when he got killed.”
— Tim Burton

“Tourism is a sin. Traveling on foot is a virtue. The moment people understand that you have come on foot and are trying to engage and understand them, there is an immediate change in attitude. On foot, no one chases you away or does not allow you to use their resources. They tell you stories they have not told anyone else.”
— Werner Herzog

“I think that when you are 16 and 17 years old, you’re making the most important connections with the world that you will probably ever make in your life. If you ask a 70-year-old what his favorite song is, it’ll be a song he heard when he was 16.”
— Gus Van Sant

“Everyone has a choice of whether or not to stay young at heart or let time erode you away like a piece of stone in the wind.”
— Peter Jackson

“If you’re born with a gift, to behave like it’s an achievement is not right.”
— Woody Allen

“My father had a difficult relationship with success, maybe because he never obtained it. But he was very wise about it, because he observed how you can become rotten fruit once you get power. He always told me, ‘If you have success, taste it and spit it out immediately. Because it’s poison.’ ” — Alejandro González Iñárritu

“I’m not a masochist, but I always take a cold shower in the morning. It’s a great beginning of the day, because nothing can be worse afterward.”
— Roman Polanski

For more wisdom and life lessons from world leaders, cultural icons, and athletes, head to Esquire.com.