Top 47 Quotes & Sayings by Tamra Davis

I have been lucky in my life to have met people that are special, so extraordinary talented that they somehow are on a different plane. Sometimes these amazingly talented people find a way to keep reinventing themselves to stay relevant and alive. Some fall under the crushing vibrancy of their own intensity.

I have this concept that I call 'Combo Meals.' The idea is that I start with the kids' meal and then add a few more ingredients, and it becomes the adult meal. This way I'm not making two entirely separate dishes. I'm just simply adding on to what I'm already making.

Many of the stranger but most frequently quoted scenes in 'Billy Madison' were unplanned.

I love making films, and as long as I love the subject, I just have a crazy amount of passion and energy for the project.

In 'Billy Madison,' I worked with Adam before anyone really knew he was Adam Sandler.

Getting four people awake, fed, dressed, and out the door on time is a challenge. Add to that making a school lunch, and you can tilt over the edge. Unless you are well prepared and have a simple method to follow.

How do you make it to the top when all you have is ambition and talent? You believe in yourself and surround yourself with other idealistic and talented friends that fuel each other and push against the establishment to take you seriously.

Pesto is such a great standard. It's so simple to make and always tastes good.

I always had to genuinely like the actors I worked with and use my enthusiasm and vision to give them confidence to push their creativity and their humor.

It's hard to have people talking about you and trashing you in the media and saying they think your career is over... and you are only 25.

What's so fun when you shoot in a car is you get to research all the other road movies that have ever been done, and you try to figure out where do they place the cameras and how many shots can you get with your people in the car. So just doing the research on the films is so fun.

It felt amazing to be one of a handful working female directors in Hollywood.

My connection with Basquiat was really in Los Angeles, which really was a whole different world to what he was experiencing in New York.

I had all these tapes in my closet that I had shot years ago with my friend Jean-Michel Basquiat. I was working on a film about him when he died, and then I just put everything away. It was too sad.

I'm extremely determined and ambitious.

I have a great little camera, and I had a theory that if the story is interesting, it doesn't matter what medium you shoot it on. You just have to make a good film.

I do have a priority in my house, and that is I want my kids to be healthy, and if I give them the right food, I am headed consistently toward that goal.

Helping out in your kid's classroom is a great way to get involved with your child's school.

A diet that is high in fat, sugar and salt makes it really hard for a body to function efficiently.

Many classrooms are overcrowded, and splitting the class into smaller groups gives the children more one on one attention.

There's no continuity in videos... you can jump around all over the place. In features, you can't throw in a close-up of a musician stomping on a guitar - you have to film a scene.

A school morning is usually a pretty hectic time in any household.

When you are talking about someone's art, it is usually so personal.

I understand that in some families both parents have to work, so the kids are home alone eating more processed foods. But if the kids know how to make oatmeal or eggs in the morning or pasta or a lentil soup at night - we're giving them real survival tools.

I came up with this statistic that if a kid makes something himself, he's 90 to 95% likely to try it. And of course, then, if it's good, he'll eat it!

I learned early in my career to not let myself get in the way of humor but, instead, find what is great in a talented person.

In 1983, I was working at an art gallery in Los Angeles and going to film school at Los Angeles City College. At that time, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a young painter and was visiting L.A. for his first show at the Larry Gagosian Gallery.

If you think you are a filmmaker... make a film, and then show it. You need to be able to finish what you started so it is presentable. When you screen it and see if your film has an effect on an audience, you will understand what it means to be a filmmaker.

My kids like their eggs with catsup. I like mine with salsa.

All of my main characters have been under 30.

I've been lucky enough to work in pop culture, especially with people right before they popped.

I hope to work till I'm an old lady.

I started making music videos in my twenties and made my first feature, 'Guncrazy,' at 29. I then spent the greater part of my thirties directing features.

I love mentoring young filmmakers and girl filmmakers.

I discovered television is a great way to deal with the chaos of new motherhood. I would put the babies to bed and get lost in a trashy reality show.

I am so inspired by new media.

Music video played a huge role in developing my sensibility as a director.

Basquiat will continue to show us new things about who we are and why he was so important.

My grandparents lived in Hollywood, and I was surrounded by the romanticism of movies ever since I was a child.

A mom can't afford to be sick.

I read the script for 'Guncrazy' in 1985 and loved it because it was one of the few scripts I'd come across that revolved around a strong female character.

It's incredible what happens when you explain to kids what good food is - they get so excited! They go home and tell their parents... and they're excited to cook the recipes themselves in class.

Having someone cook all your meals is the best vacation ever!

It was hard for me to hear anyone saying they didn't like 'Billy Madison.'

I wanted to make a film that wasn't just a biography. When you watched it, you actually felt that you watched a movie, that you had an emotional reaction. In order to do that, I felt that I had to really keep myself emotionally raw while working on the film. I had to feel myself crying, so the audience could be moved, too.

Running provides an outlet for my mind to relax and my peace to be still.

I love making films, and as long as I love the subject, I just have a crazy amount of passion and energy for the project. The project that influenced me the most is this cooking show I do online. I film it all myself, and I think making so many of those gave me the confidence that all I need is a camera, and I could go and do an interview. The freedom to be a filmmaker - you just need a camera.