If Ang Lee were asked in 1997 how he has grown as a filmmaker, he would reply: "I started out with three personal films. But what you know about, your neighborhood, can be very limiting, I think. That's why I wouldn't make ten films like that. Because my life growing up was pretty boring, I want to play, I want to stretch, explore. Every time I make a new film now, I think it's going to be a flop, that my number is up, and I like that. I don't want to fall, but I do want to see where the edge is - that's my attitude toward film. But I don't want to be a slave to moviemaking. I'll do what I have to do to make it work, but once a film is done, it's time to move one notch higher. To me, directing is about learning, life is about learning. Learning is not a way of getting your goal - it's the goal itself. It's the texture to life."