Criminals are never very amusing. It’s because they’re failures. Those who make real money aren’t counted as criminals. This is a class distinction, not an ethical problem.
ORSON WELLESIn my opinion, there are two things that can absolutely not be carried to the screen: the realistic presentation of the sexual act and praying to God.
More Orson Welles Quotes
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The trouble with a movie is that it’s old before it’s released. It’s no accident that it comes in a can.
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Popularity should be no scale for the election of politicians. If it would depend on popularity, Donald Duck and The Muppets would take seats in senate.
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I started at the top and worked my way down.
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The director is the most overrated artist in the world. He is the only artist who, with no talent whatsoever, can be a success for 50 years without his lack of talent ever being discovered.
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See, 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.
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A writer needs a pen, an artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.
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A bad word from a colleague can darken a whole day. We need encouragement a lot more than we admit, even to ourselves.
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Paris 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.
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Friendship creates only the illusion of not being alone.
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If I ever own a restaurant, I will never allow the waiters to ask if the diners like their dishes. Particularly when they’re talking.
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Paris 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.
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At twenty-one, so many things appear solid, permanent, untenable.
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Hollywood is Hollywood. There’s nothing you can say about it that isn’t true, good or bad. And if you get into it, you have no right to be bitter — you’re the one who sat down, and joined the game.
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The most personal thing I’ve put in [Touch of Evil] is my hatred of the abuse of police power. It’s better to see a murderer go free than for a policeman to abuse his power.
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I 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 WELLES






