The only pictures worth making are the ones that are playing with fire.

Develop a clean line of action for your leading character

Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also.

Money makes even bastards legitimate.

We are on the track of something absolutely mediocre.

God save me from myself.

I just always think, 'Do I like it?' And if I like it, maybe other people will come and like it too.

France is a place where the money falls apart in your hands but you can't tear the toilet paper.

The best director is the one you don't see.

Make subtlety obvious.

The Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian.

The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.

I met a lot of hard-boiled eggs in my life, but you - you're twenty minutes.

You're as good as the best thing you've ever done.

A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant and a bastard.

I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.

If you don't like what you're doing, it's unlikely anyone else will either, so be sure you are happy with your own work first.

If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.

If there's anything I hate more than not being taken seriously, it's being taken too seriously.