Film Director Quotes

“I found out that a lot of my liberal friends weren't liberal because they weren't liberal about approaching anybody else's ideas, or at least standing for it. They started getting really animalistic about, "I can't even associate with this guy. He's stupid. He's an idiot."”

“You have to be realistic about where you are in life and enjoy it.”

“I just make the pictures and where they fall is where they fall. If somebody likes them, that's always nice. And if they don't like them, then too bad.”

“Children teach you that you can still be humbled by life, that you learn something new all the time. That's the secret to life, really: never stop learning. It's the secret to career. I'm still working because I learn something new all the time. It's the secret to relationships. Never think you've got it all.”

“I've had no problem harnessing anger.”

“My mother always told me it wasn't polite to ask what people make.”

“When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like 'Bird,' I use 90% black people.”

“Are you going to pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?”

“As I get older, I tend to put more into family than I used to.”

“I liked Vittorio De Sica a lot, and I got to work with him once in a segment movie. He was a great director. He was a very charismatic character and a guy I watched a lot when he was directing.”

“I mean, I've always been a libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair.”

“There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn what it is I'll get married again.”

“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.”

“Of course we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it.”

“I want the troops from Great Britain and the U.S. to be successful, but by the same token, Afghanistan has always been a screw-up.”

“Other than obvious errors like forgetting a line, often I can't see any difference between take one and take 20.”

“The fact is, violence is not only not a beautiful thing, but it's also very painful and not without consequences for the perpetrator as well as the victim.”

“The U.S. military was segregated 'til the Korean War, and the blacks in World War Two were totally segregated.”

“If anybody asks me what I attribute the longevity of my career to, then I say it's because I was never satisfied with being a cowboy in the plains of Spain and later I was never satisfied with just playing a detective in San Francisco, and constantly just pushing the envelope.”

“I'm trying to preach the idea that if we don't pay attention to history we're destined to repeat it.”

“I never look back and think too much about my films. I've done some work I've been proud of over the years but which of them is my favourite I really don't know. I could say the last one. I've had little jumps in my career like Unforgiven possibly.”

“They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.”

“I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will.”

“A talented executive would be somebody who knows how to surround themselves with a lot of people that will make him look good. You could say that about a politician or you could say that about a head of a major corporation or what have you. The people you surround yourself with it's very important.”

“I never expect anything. I am always amazed at why anybody goes to any movie or why anybody doesn't go to any movie. Any movie you make, you make it because you're hoping somebody wants to see it, but you never know.”