"A bad word from a colleague can darken a whole day. We need encouragement a lot more than we admit, even to ourselves."

"The most personal thing I've put in [Touch of Evil] is my hatred of the abuse of police power. It's better to see a murderer go free than for a policeman to abuse his power."

"'The Godfather' was the glorification of a bunch of bums who never existed."

"There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror."

"I don't say we all ought to misbehave, but we ought to look as if we could."

"Ignorance sheer ignorance. There is no confidence to equal it. It's only when you know something about a profession that you are timid or careful."

"I've spent most of my mature life trying to prove that I'm not irresponsible."

"I've spent most of my mature life trying to prove that I'm not irresponsible."

"Hollywood is Hollywood. There’s nothing you can say about it that isn’t true, good or bad. And if you get into it, you have no right to be bitter — you’re the one who sat down, and joined the game."

"Paris is the playwright's delight. New York is the home of directors. London, however, is the actor's city, the only one in the world. In London, actors are given their head."

"There are three intolerable things in life - cold coffee, lukewarm champagne, and overexcited women."

"[I have a] fondness for telling stories, like the Arab storytellers on the marketplace. ... I will never grow tired of [telling] stories [and] I make the mistake of thinking that everyone has the same enthusiasm!"

"I love informality. I hate dressing up. I hate to be conventional - and I hate every kind of snob."

"If I ever own a restaurant, I will never allow the waiters to ask if the diners like their dishes. Particularly when they're talking."

"In my opinion, there are two things that can absolutely not be carried to the screen: the realistic presentation of the sexual act and praying to God."

"Personally, I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband. If she'll fool her husband, I figure she'll fool me."

"I look back on my life and it’s 95% running around trying to raise money to make movies and 5% actually making them. It’s no way to live."

"I hate women, hate them generally, not in particular but in an abstract way. I hate them because one never really learns anything about them. They are inscrutable."

"The director is the most overrated artist in the world. He is the only artist who, with no talent whatsoever, can be a success for 50 years without his lack of talent ever being discovered."

"The director is simply the audience. His job is to preside over accidents."

"A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a director an army."

"I'm one of those fellows so frightened of driving that I go 80 miles an hour - and the more frightened I get, the faster I go."

"Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions."

"Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions."