Writing is simply one thought after another dying upon the one before.

I love spaghetti and sex, sometimes together. My dream of heaven is walking naked through fields of pasta fazool.

You're young forever when you write. Alfred Hitchcock directed until the day he died. As long as you don't have any dementia or Alzheimer's, if you have your All-Bran every day and clear yourself out, I think your brains are gonna be all right.

I started with [Leo] Tolstoy and I was overwhelmed. Tolstoy writes like an ocean, in huge, rolling waves, and it doesn't look like it was processed through his thinking. It feels very natural. You don't question whether Tolstoy's right or wrong. His philosophy is housed in interrelating characters, so it's not up for grabs.

Sir, I have seen your film and it is vulgar! Madame, my film rises below vulgarity.

When you come to Germany as a Jew you have an uneasy feeling, but I've always felt okay in Berlin.

I usually start with the words. The rhythm of the words gives me the rhythm of the song, and then I look for the musical highlights in it to carry it.