If something smells bad, why put your nose in it?
BILLY WILDERIf something smells bad, why put your nose in it?
BILLY WILDERThe Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian.
BILLY WILDERI have never met anyone as utterly mean as Marilyn Monroe. Nor as utterly fabulous on the screen, and that includes Garbo.
BILLY WILDERIf 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.
BILLY WILDERThey’ve tried to manufacture other Marilyn Monroes and they will undoubtedly keep trying. But it won’t work. She was an original.
BILLY WILDERI hate that word. It’s return–a return to the millions of people who’ve never forgiven me for deserting the screen.
BILLY WILDERHollywood didn’t kill Marilyn Monroe, it’s the Marilyn Monroes who are killing Hollywood.
BILLY WILDERShe may be a wispy, thin little thing, but when you see that girl, you know you’re really in the presence of something. In that league there’s only ever been Garbo, and the other Hepburn, and maybe Bergman. It’s a rare quality, but boy, do you know when you’ve found it.
BILLY WILDEROne’s too many and a hundred’s not enough.
BILLY WILDERThe best director is the one you don’t see.
BILLY WILDERI’m delighted with it, because it used to be that films were the lowest form of art. Now we’ve got something to look down on.
BILLY WILDERWell, nobody’s perfect.
BILLY WILDERYou have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning.
BILLY WILDERI don’t go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.
BILLY WILDERI just always think, ‘Do I like it?’ And if I like it, maybe other people will come and like it too.
BILLY WILDERMarilyn was mean. Terribly mean. The meanest woman I have ever met around this town. I have never met anybody as mean as Marilyn Monroe or as utterly fabulous on the screen.
BILLY WILDER