All literature is a footnote to Faust. I have no idea what I mean by that.

The French make two mistakes about me. They think I'm an intellectual because I wear these glasses and they think I'm an artist because my films lose money.

I don't why whatever works and whatever doesn't. You just make the film that you enjoy making at the time, and you think there's a good chance that people might enjoy the story. You're surprised pleasantly when they do. It's just luck.

For some reason I'm more appreciated in France than I am back home. The subtitles must be incredibly good.

Life is a tragedy filled with suffering and despair and yet some people do manage to avoid jury duty.

Harvard makes mistakes too, you know. Kissinger taught there.

I never have an alter ego in the movies. That's a fiction that the press has made up over the years, and it's fun to write that. It gives them something to write.