Woody makes a movie as if he were lighting 10,000 safety matches to illuminate a city. Each one is a little epiphany: topical, ethnic, or political.

Zero Mostel wasn't afraid of authority in any form, and that's the part that influenced me the most.

Actors fall into this trap if they missed being loved for who they really were and not for what they could do - sing, dance, joke about - then they take that as love.

You say the character [of Leo Bloom] was meek and insecure, and you could've been describing me as well. I was a very shy person in those days, and working with Zero [Mostel], who was bigger than life, helped me grow. Zero was a strong influence on me.

The suspense is terrible. I hope it'll last.

I had improvised a lot in classes and at the Actors Studio, but I never did it in front of the camera.

Time is a precious thing. Never waste it.