Quotes

[on why he stopped being a painter to become a film director] Because even a great painting is seen only by about 60,000 people in a year, and the same number see a good motion picture in one hour.

I do think that the biggest thing about a picture is not what is said or done, but how it is said or done. And the first rule is never make a picture because you see it through the eyes of a success. Imitation is the sincerest flattery - and the worse bore. The second is, never let what the public is going to say worry you while you are making a picture. Wait until after they say it.

[on being asked what he thought of censorship] Nothing. But censors are really human, you know, and therefore cannot live forever; and when a censor approves a picture it does not mean that it is moral. Fortunately, some censors are very innocent.