Imagining [The Wizard of Oz] without Judy Garland is a bit like dancing on wet cement: you can do it, but why would you want to?

Art doesn't come in measured quantities: it's got to be too much or it's not enough.

Movies that are consciously life-affirming are to be consciously avoided.

The problem with a popular art form is that those who want something more are in a hopeless minority compared with the millions who are always seeing it for the first time, or for the reassurance and gratification of seeing the conventions fulfilled again.

For a while in the twenties and thirties, art was talked about as a substitute for religion; now B movies are a substitute for religion.

Her only flair is in her nostrils.

An avidity for more is built into the love of movies. Something else is built in: you have to be open to the idea of getting drunk on movies. (Being able to talk about movies with someone -- to share the giddy high excitement you feel -- is enough for a friendship.