Directing is more like you're being a psychologist and you're kind of analyzing the situation and evaluating each person for their idiosyncrasies.
I had always planned when I started directing in 1970 that after a few years I'd get tired of looking at myself on the screen and say: "Hey, let's not do that any more." But then every once in a while something pops up. I'm not saying it won't happen again but probably the odds get less as you set yourself for roles that fit your age group.
There has to be something in every role that interests you.
The guys who won World War II and that whole generation have disappeared, and now we have a bunch of teenage twits.
Every man has got to know his limitations.
Conflict is the basis of drama. I guess that goes back as long as time has existed as far as mankind is concerned, dating back to the Greek tragedies or the Old Testament. And violence is a form of conflict, so whether that's catharsis or whether that has some socially damaging effect on audiences - I suppose that would just depend.
Yes, I'm always - I'm always surprised when you make a film and you live with it a while and you put it out, you never dream that anybody is ever going to want to really see it.
Let's not go and ruin it by thinking too much.
Libertarian: everyone leaves everyone else alone
Man becomes his most creative during war.
You're as young as you feel. As young as you want to be. There's an old saying I heard from a friend of mine. People ask him, "Why do you look so good at your age?" He'll say, "Because I never let the old man in." And there's truth to that. It's in your mind, how far you let him come in.
I'm not afraid to look bad on the screen.
Participating in a gun buy-back program because you think that criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have too many kids.
Everybody's got a right to be a sucker ... once.
Abuse of power isn't limited to bad guys in other nations. It happens in our own country if we're not vigilant.
I do believe in the energy and the productivity of the American business world.
I tried being reasonable, I didn't like it.
I played a little basketball. Some football in junior high.
Everybody accuses me of moving fast when I direct a picture. I don't move fast, but I just keep moving.
I'm always trying to tackle subjects that tax me and make me think. That's the key to staying young at heart. The brain has to be exercised the same as the rest of the body.
Nothing wrong with shooting...as long as the right people get shot.
I'm in the saddle every day playing a screwball. And then somebody comes along and says, "How would you like to go to Italy and Spain and do an Italian/Spanish/German co-production with an Italian director who's only directed one movie?" It wasn't like I was going there to be with Federico Fellini. But something was there, and I thought, Well, I loved this story when it was told by Akira Kurosawa; maybe this is a good idea. That's an instinctive moment. A Fistful of Dollars was made.
When you're making a film you start living with it, and I find myself sitting down and figuring out a sound or melody that would go with a film, or a particular period. It's not brain surgery, you just kind of feel it along.
I'm suffering from oxygen deprivation. It's overwhelming watching your career go by.
Self-respect leads to self-discipline.
I guess a great movie would be one that has the most great moments in it.
I think everybody has something that they've been obsessed about in their lifetime.
I was forty the first time I directed. I formed a company in 1967, looking to the future. My dad taught me that whatever you do, do it well. Be the best at what you can do for that particular job in life. That always resonated with me.
I guess I'm living in the present more than the past.
Nobody knows diddly. They just think they do. And the people that think they know the most know the least.
I'm just a kid. I've got a lot of stuff to do yet.
I don't like to see a president who is just out campaigning all year long or for the last four years. I'd like to see somebody who's going in the office. In fact, I'd like to not see them because that way you'd be sure that they'd be working.
I am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama.
What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself. You're crazy. You're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden.
I think great movies have to have some great moments in them to bring them up to that level.
If I'd had good discipline, I might have gone into music.
I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.
There's a lot of young guys coming along, but I'd like to say to the various financiers, don't forget the senior guys. The senior guys and gals are there, willing to do their best work for you.
I couldn't tell you exactly what I like about golf. Just when you think you've got it mastered it lets you know you haven't. I'm just crazy enough to do it.
I've never been on a movie where they play five-dollar Friday. I must not be very observant.
I can't do that to myself...
I don't like showing the technique. I don't like people who say, "Here, I'm going to act, but first I have to bounce off this wall." If you have to bounce off the wall, do it by yourself. Don't feature the technique. My old drama coach used to say, "Don't just do something, stand there." Gary Cooper wasn't afraid to do nothing.
Politicians love regulating. That's part of the whole power structure.
Politicians have to make unpopular decisions. Schwarzenegger is going to understand the nature of his job. I wish him good luck, he's going to need it. It's going to be difficult for him.
My dad was a big admirer of Sergeant York stories from the First World War.
I'd say people get to work and start being more understanding of everybody - instead of calling everybody names, start being more understanding. But get in there and get it done. Kick ass and take names. And this may be my dad talking, but don't spend what you don't have.
Music does have a very special place in my heart. I enjoy it very much. I suppose it is my first love and I do a lot of it. It seems to be when you are making a project it inspires you sometimes to jot down something that you think fits the situation.
Writing is a creative art form and the acting and directing is more of an interpretive art form.
It would be great to be 105 and still making films.
I think kids are natural actors. You watch most kids; if they don't have a toy, they'll pick up a stick and make a toy out of it. Kids will daydream all the time.
We boil at different degrees.
I would like to be interpreted as a liberal libertarian, like leave everybody alone and let them do their own thing.
The thing that haunts a man the most is what he isn't ordered to do.
If you're really satisfied with your position on something, you just say, 'Hey;' you just very calmly present something.
I am sort of anti-hunting. I don't put down what anyone wants to do, but it seems to me that killing a creature for fun is not a progressive idea.
For a man, once you've sired your pups, you're done.
Listen, punk. To me you're nothin' but dogshit, you understand? And a lot of things can happen to dogshit. It can be scraped up with a shovel off the ground. It can dry up and blow away in the wind. Or it can be stepped on and squashed. So take my advice and be careful where the dog shits ya!
You know when you're young and you see a play in high school, and the guys all have gray in their hair and they're trying to be old men and they have no idea what that's like? It's just that stupid the other way around.
Most people are afraid of change, but if you look at it as something you can always count on, then it can be a comfort.
There are certain age limits on police officers. They'd have retired me out at 65.
