Elia Kazan

“I was an outsider... but I was also sympathetic with people that were struggling to get up, because I struggled to get up.”

“I was very intense. I think it's a privilege to be an actor.”

“I question the value of stars. I think they're overrated. They get too much money, too much praise.”

“I was even superior to the Communists and when they didn't go along with me, I quit them.”

“I may be getting old, but not foolish.”

“The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.”

“I said to Tennessee, this thing is becoming the Marlon Brando show.”

“What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties.”

“The Communists automatically violated the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed.”

“I like directors who come on the set and create something that's a little dangerous, difficult or unusual.”

“A film director has to get a shot, no matter what he does. We're desperate people.”

“The physical life of the scene is determined by whether the set squeezes people together or whether the set has an escape place in it.”

“Miller didn't write Death of a Salesman. He released it. It was there inside him, waiting to be turned loose. That's the measure of its merit.”

“The first thing you should do with an actor is not sign a contract with him. Take him to dinner. And take him for a walk afterwards.”

“You have to remind people of their own struggles. It's a responsibility.”

“I was always a self-conscious person.”

“The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep.”

“I've lost many of my best friends... I'm going to satisfy myself now, not the critics, not even my friends.”

“I'm small, but I'm neither compliant nor agreeable.”

“I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action.”