“There is nothing to winning, really. That is, if you happen to be blessed with a keen eye, an agile mind, and no scruples whatsoever.”

In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.

Our primary function is to create an emotion and our secondary function is to sustain that emotions.

A woman, I always say, should be like a good suspense movie: The more left to the imagination, the more excitement there is. This should be her aim – to create suspense, to let a man discover things about her without her having to tell him.

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.

There is something more important than logic: imagination.

I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.

I like stories with lots of psychology.

A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake.

Television is like the invention of indoor plumbing. It didn’t change people’s habits. It just kept them inside the house.

Give them pleasure – the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.

Never judge a country by its politicians.

I always take the audience into account.

You think she’s pretty, you ought to see my slingshot!

Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.

The Birds could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made.

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

I know I’m blessed because yo’ stress is realer than anything I done been through.

Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state.

The feeling we catching, my love is a blessing.

When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.

Go be a blessing. Your miracle is waiting for you as you help others.

The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift.

Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.