Inside the Actors Studio

Student: What is the importance of listening, and lastly, do you believe in aliens?

Steven Spielberg: [laughs] Well, I was taught by my mom and dad that in Judaism, the most important prayer is Shema Israel, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord Our God, The Lord is One!", and it was taught to me - from childhood - that the most important thing I could do, as a Jew, was to listen. And that wasn't a way for a parent to say "I know more than you, I'm the boss, you shut up and I'll do all the talking". That wasn't that way at all. They meant listen to yourself. Listen to those little whispers that you tend to want to hear because they're too soft. We tend to somehow listen to the shout and not the whisper. So listening, carefully, is what I was taught all my life. I'm just saying that when people don't listen, it's not that they don't learn, they just deny themselves tremendous opportunities and glorious choices. They deny themselves this, and it's their own damn fault... I do believe in aliens.