I always anticipated difficulties in order to avoid scenes.

So they were turning, after all - those cameras. Life, which can be strangely merciful, had taken pity on Norma Desmond. The dream she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her. Norma: You see, this is my life. It always will be! (In a whisper) There's nothing else - just us - and the cameras - and those wonderful people out there in the dark. All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up.

I am a very pragmatic person.

The only time I ever went hunting I remembered it as a grisly experience.

The major gossip columnists were more concerned with protecting the industry than with gunning down sinners.

The English press treated the world premiere of my first talking picture as a major event.

The Sennett system of making pictures was actually fun. You never knew what the person next to you was going to do.