Orson Welles Quotes
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Only very intelligent people don't wish they were in politics, and I'm dumb enough to want to be in there.
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One shouldn't ever be conscious of the author as lecturer. When social or moral points are too heavily stressed, I always get uncomfortable.
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When television came along, I'd already done more than 10 years of radio work and I thought everyone would want me. I sat around waiting for the phone to ring - and it didn't.
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I can think of nothing that an audience won't understand. The only problem is to interest them; once they are interested, they understand anything in the world.
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I'm a provincial. I live very much like a hermit: reading, listening to music, working in the cutting room, writing, commercial work - which doesn't take up that much time.
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I spend... twenty times more for you people than any other commercial I've ever made. You are such pests! Now what is it you want? In your... depths of your ignorance, what is it you want? Whatever it is you want, I can't deliver, 'cause I just don't see it.
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'The Godfather' was the glorification of a bunch of bums who never existed.
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Men created civilization only to impress their girl friends
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Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation.
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I've never understood the cult of Hitchcock. Particularly the late American movies... Egotism and laziness. And they're all lit like television shows.
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The ideal American type is perfectly expressed by the Protestant, individualist, anti-conformist, and this is the type that is in the process of disappearing. In reality there are few left.
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Criminals are never very amusing. It's because they're failures. Those who make real money aren't counted as criminals. This is a class distinction, not an ethical problem.
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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.
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I have always been more interested in experiment, than in accomplishment.
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As a producer, sitting on the other side of the desk, I have never once had an agent go out on a limb for his client and fight for him. I've never heard one say, 'No, just a minute! This is the actor you should use.' They will always say, 'You don't like him? I've got somebody else.' They're totally spineless.
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The laws and the stage, both are a form of exhibitionism.
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Nobody gets justice. People only get good luck or bad luck.
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The only reason for doing a play is to make a statement about it, and by that I don't mean a conceit of the producer.
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If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends.
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I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
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Each multiplex has screens allocated to each studio. The screens need filling. Studios have to create product to fill their screen, and the amount of good product is limited.
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But you can't emphasize 'beef', that's like his wanting me to emphasize 'in' before 'July'! Come on, fellows, you're losing your heads! I wouldn't direct any living actor like this in Shakespeare! The way you do this, it's impossible!
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Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.
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The right reading for this is the one I'm giving.