The making of a picture ought surely to be a rather fascinating adventure. It is not; it is an endless contention of tawdry egos, some of them powerful, almost all of them vociferous, and almost none of them capable of anything much more creative than credit-stealing and self-promotion.

An artist cannot deny art, nor would he want to. A lover cannot deny love.

There are people who can write their memoirs with a reasonable amount of honesty, and there are people who simply cannot take themselves seriously enough. I think I might be the first to admit that the sort of reticence which prevents a man from exploiting his own personality is really an inverted sort of egotism.

California, the department store state.

You can always tell a detective on TV. He never takes his hat off.

It was a cool day and very clear. You could see a long way-but not as far as Velma had gone.

It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.