The Birth of a Nation

He achieved what no other known man has ever achieved. To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel; the emergence, coordination, and first eloquence of language; thebirth of an art: and to realize that this is all the work of one man. - James Agee

Griffith demonstrated to every filmmaker and moviegoer who followed him what a movie was, and what a movie could be. - Roger Ebert