Popularity should be no scale for the election of politicians. If it would depend on popularity, Donald Duck and The Muppets would take seats in senate.

[I have a] fondness for telling stories, like the Arab storytellers on the marketplace. ... I will never grow tired of [telling] stories [and] I make the mistake of thinking that everyone has the same enthusiasm!

Hollywood expects you to experiment but on a film that makes money and if you don't make money, you're to blame. Your job is to make money.

The enemy of society is middle class and the enemy of life is middle age.

I think I made essential a mistake in staying in movies, because I - but it's a mistake I can't regret, because it's like saying, 'I shouldn't have stayed married to that woman, but I did because I love her.'

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 made an art form of the interview. The French are the best interviewers, despite their addiction to the triad, like all Cartesians.