To be successful, you really have to put your ego in the background and try to be diplomatic to achieve what you want to achieve.

The Berlin of the '20s formed the foundation of my future education... the Berlin of the UFA studios, of Fritz Lang, Lubitsch and Erich Pommer. The Berlin of the architects Gropius, Mendelsohn and Mies van der Rohe. The Berlin of the painters Max Libermann, Grosz, Otto Dix, Klee and Kandinsky.

The cinema is there to heighten the imagination; I have always tried to make sure it does so.

I have never been sorry to see my sets being struck, provided they are well photographed. They're not works of art but part of making a film.

It takes courage to stay young, to make your enthusiasms work for you. Don't let anyone drag you down.

I'm an incurable romantic, and 'Casablanca''s one of the most romantic pictures I've ever seen - the combination of Bogart and Bergman is just magical.

One thing that I think works in 'Casablanca' and which I've lectured a lot about - in terms of what I've been trying to achieve as a designer - is the film's creation of its own form of reality.