I prefer the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.

Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.

Ignorance sheer ignorance. There is no confidence to equal it. It's only when you know something about a profession that you are timid or careful.

I have wasted the greater part of my life looking for money and trying to get along, trying to make my work from this terribly expensive paintbox, which is a movie. And I've spent too much energy on things that have nothing to do with making a movie. It's about two percent moviemaking and ninety-eight percent hustling. It's no way to spend a life.

Future shock is a sickness which comes from too much change in too short a time. It's the feeling that nothing is permanent anymore.

A director is someone who presides over a series of accidents.

I don't think any word can explain a man's life.