William Castle and Alfred Hitchcock were the first director-personalities. Before then, nobody in America knew what a director was.

Catholics have more extreme sex lives because they're taught that pleasure is bad for you. Who thinks it's normal to kneel down to a naked man who's nailed to a cross? It's like a bad leather bar.

I mean, what is prison, really, except a good bar without the liquor?

My idea of rich is that you can buy every book you ever want without looking at the price and you're never around assholes. That's the two things to really fight for in life.

I just went to Times Square and the underground movies, sometimes three a day. I did get my education. But I really believed then, in 1966, they would not have allowed me to make any of the movies I made. Today, you could make a snuff movie at NYU and get an A.

My films can be considered political action against the tyranny of good taste.

Watching a movie should be like hunting. Out of context, every image of the cinema is yours for a split second. Take them before they bury it.