Living in the lap of luxury isn’t bad except that you never know when luxury is going to stand up.
ORSON WELLESLiving in the lap of luxury isn’t bad except that you never know when luxury is going to stand up.
ORSON WELLESA bad word from a colleague can darken a whole day. We need encouragement a lot more than we admit, even to ourselves.
ORSON WELLESI 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.
ORSON WELLESThe Godfather’ was the glorification of a bunch of bums who never existed.
ORSON WELLESI’m never certain of a performance – my own or the other actors’ – or the script or anything. But to me it seems there’s only one place in the world the camera can be, and the decision usually comes immediately.
ORSON WELLESWe’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.
ORSON WELLESI have a great love and respect for religion, great love and respect for atheism. What I hate is agnosticism, people who do not choose.
ORSON WELLESI have made an art form of the interview. The French are the best interviewers, despite their addiction to the triad, like all Cartesians.
ORSON WELLESI want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won’t contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That’s what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act.
ORSON WELLESWhen people accept breaking the law as normal, something happens to the whole society.
ORSON WELLESThe director is simply the audience. His job is to preside over accidents.
ORSON WELLESI do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don’t think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.
ORSON WELLESParis 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.
ORSON WELLESSee, I believe that it is not true that different races and nations are alike. I’m profoundly convinced that that’s a total lie. I think people are different. Sardinians, for example, have stubby little fingers. Bosnians have short necks.
ORSON WELLESI hate Woody Allen physically, I dislike that kind of man.
ORSON WELLESOnly in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.
ORSON WELLES