'When I'm writing a book I prefer not to speak about it, ' he said, 'because only when the book is finished can I try to understand what I've really done and to compare my intentions with the result.

“当我写一本书时我更愿意避之不谈，”他说，“因为只有当一本书写完时我才能试着理解自己确实完成了什么，并将自己的本来意图与结果加以比较。”

youdao

Particularly, speaking of my generation, the great immigration wave - I guess from the 1880s to the 1910 and 1915 - and I think ultimately it really is trying to find out who we are, and try to understand a little bit about what it was like to live as an immigrant at that time.

NPR: Scorsese on the Immigrant Experience on Film