A biography for Orson Welleshasn’t been written yet.
“I don't pray because I don't want to bore God.”
“The best thing commercially, which is the worst artistically, by and large, is the most successful.”
“Everything bad that has ever happened to me has been caused by agents or lawyers.”
“I hate Woody Allen physically, I dislike that kind of man.”
“There were centuries when civilization had no theater.”
“If I don't like somebody's looks, I don't like them.”
“I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.”
“Personally, I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband. If she'll fool her husband, I figure she'll fool me.”
“If everyone worked with wide-angle lenses, I'd shoot all my films in 75mm, because I believe very strongly in the possibilities of the 75mm.”
“The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.”
“One shouldn't ever be conscious of the author as lecturer. When social or moral points are too heavily stressed, I always get uncomfortable.”
“I would rather be on the set than doing anything.”
“Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.”
“Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.”
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”
“Nobody who takes on anything big and tough can afford to be modest.”
“I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.”
“I am essentially a hack, a commercial person. If I had a hobby, I would immediately make money on it or abandon it.”
“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.”
“In common with all Protestant or Jewish cultures, America was developed on the idea that your word is your bond. Otherwise, the frontier could never have been opened, 'cause it was lawless. A man's word had to mean something.”