Being comfortable is over-rated.

A lot of times people get to a certain age and they quit. I always felt sorry for the Frank Capras, the Billy Wilders, directors like that, because they quit in their sixties. Why would you quit? Think of the great work they could've done in their sixties, seventies, and on up.

Everybody's got a right to be a sucker ... once.

My father had a couple of kids at the beginning of the Depression. There was not much employment. Not much welfare. People barely got by. People were tougher then.

I don't believe in pessimism.

You should never give up your inner self.

You have to steal a lot. You have to have a criminal mentality to be a film director.