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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.

Orson Welles

Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.
ORSON WELLES

Easy Job Police
My kind of director is an actor-director who writes.
ORSON WELLES

Director Kind Myself Writing
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.
ORSON WELLES

Actor Director Home Movie Play Respect World Worth
Hollywood is a gold-plated suburb suitable for golfers, gardeners, assorted middlemen, and contented movies stars. I am none of these things.
ORSON WELLES

Gardener Gold Hollywood Movie Myself Stardom
There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.
ORSON WELLES

Boredom Emotion Terrorism
Criticism is the essence of creation.
ORSON WELLES

Creation Criticism One Liner
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.
ORSON WELLES

Artist Director Discover Success Talent World
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.
ORSON WELLES

Appearance Believe Different Lie Myself Nation People Race Thinking True
The trouble with a movie is that it’s old before it’s released. It’s no accident that it comes in a can.
ORSON WELLES

Accident Movie Old Trouble
There are three intolerable things in life – cold coffee, lukewarm champagne, and overexcited women.
ORSON WELLES

Drink Excitement Life Tolerance Woman
Working is part of life, I don’t know how to distinguish between the two. Work is an expression of life.
ORSON WELLES

Expression Life Myself Philosophy Work
When people accept breaking the law as normal, something happens to the whole society.
ORSON WELLES

Acceptance Break Law Normal People Society
Crooks aren’t the worst people, just the stupidest. The fleas of the world.
ORSON WELLES

People Stupidity World Worst
What’s happening now is what happened before, and often what’s going to happen again sometime or other.
ORSON WELLES

History Philosophy Science Time
The cinema has no boundary; it is a ribbon of dream.
ORSON WELLES

Boundary Dreams Movie Perspective
We’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 WELLES

Alive Alone Born Creation Death Friendship Illusion Live Love Moments
The director is simply the audience. His job is to preside over accidents.
ORSON WELLES

Audience Director Himself Job Simplicity
A bad word from a colleague can darken a whole day. We need encouragement a lot more than we admit, even to ourselves.
ORSON WELLES

Bad Darkness Day Encouragement Need Ourselves Word
I don’t pray really, because I don’t want to bore God.
ORSON WELLES

Boredom God Prayer
A director is someone who presides over a series of accidents.
ORSON WELLES

Accident Director Job Series
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

Audience Myself Thinking Understand World
Everything about me is a contradiction, and so is everything about everybody else. We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There’s a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don’t reconcile the poles. You just recognize them.
ORSON WELLES

Live Murder Myself Philosophy Saint
An artist is always out of step with the time. He has to be.
ORSON WELLES

Artist Himself Time
In 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.
ORSON WELLES

Act Carry God Opinion Pray Sex
I’ve spent most of my mature life trying to prove that I’m not irresponsible.
ORSON WELLES

Evidence Life Maturity Myself Responsibility
A writer needs a pen, an artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.
ORSON WELLES

Army Artist Movie Need Pen Writing
Nobody gets justice. People only get good luck or bad luck.
ORSON WELLES

Bad Goodness Justice Luck

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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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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