A biography for Martin Scorsesehasn’t been written yet.
“Every year or so, I try to do something; it keeps me refreshed as to what's going on in front of the lens, and I understand what the actor is going through.”
“Very often I've known people who wouldn't say a word to each other, but they'd go to see movies together and experience life that way.”
“And as I've gotten older, I've had more of a tendency to look for people who live by kindness, tolerance, compassion, a gentler way of looking at things.”
“All my life, I never really felt comfortable anywhere in New York, except maybe in an apartment somewhere.”
“The term 'giant' is used too often to describe artists. But in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits.”
“We can't keep thinking in a limited way about what cinema is. We still don't know what cinema is. Maybe cinema could only really apply to the past or the first 100 years, when people actually went to a theater to see a film, you see?”
“It did remind me of something out of Greek mythology - the richest king who gets everything he wants, but ultimately his family has a curse on it from the Gods.”
“I just wanted to be an ordinary parish priest.”
“More personal films, you could make them, but your budgets would be cut down.”
“You never know how much time you have left.”
“I do know that some Buddhists are able to attain peace of mind.”
“People have to start talking to know more about other cultures and to understand each other.”
“There are two kinds of power you have to fight. The first is the money, and that's just our system. The other is the people close around you, knowing when to accept their criticism, knowing when to say no.”
“People want to classify and say, 'OK, this is a gangster film.' 'This is a Western.' 'This is a... ' You know? It's easy to classify and it makes people feel comfortable, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't really matter.”
“I'm very phobic about flying, but I'm also drawn to it.”
“I still dislike phones, yeah!”
“The fact that food plays such an important part in my films has everything to do with my family.”
“If your mother cooks Italian food, why should you go to a restaurant?”
“My working-class Italian-American parents didn't go to school, there were no books in the house.”
“The best I can do is to make a film every two years.”