Quotes from Francis Ford Coppola

I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.

there's a hormone secreted into the bloodstream of most writers that makes them hate their own work while they are doing it, or immediately after. This, coupled with the chorus of critical reaction from those privileged to take a first look, is almost enough to discourage further work entirely.

We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can't steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice and that's how you will find your voice.

Art depends on luck and talent.

I don't think there's any artist of any value who doesn't doubt what they're doing.

When I was sixteen or seventeen, I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a playwright. But everything I wrote, I thought was weak. And I can remember falling asleep in tears because I had no talent the way I wanted to have.

I don't see any method at all...Sir

The secret of life is to say yes all the time, because when you're old, you don't want to say, 'I wish I'd done this, I wish I had done that.

Anything built on a grand scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

Upon that second reading, much of the book fell away in my mind, revealing a story that was a metaphor for American capitalism in the tale of a great king with three sons: the oldest was given his passion and aggressiveness, the second his sweet nature and childlike qualities, and the third his intelligence, cunning, and coldness.

The notebook was my anchor through all of it.

I loved it; I was living a dream.

The most adventurous thing I've done is learn how to fly a helicopter in the Philippines. One night we landed on a beach and slept on it.

I was never sloppy with other people's money. Only my own. Because I figure, well, you can be.

Lots of people have criticized my movies, but nobody has ever identified the real problem: I'm a sloppy filmmaker.

Roger Corman exploited all of the young people who worked for him, but he really gave you responsibility and opportunity. So it was kind of a fair deal.

I'm no longer dependent on the movie business to make a living. So if I want to make movies as other old guys would play golf, I can.

If I have to be remembered for something, I want it remembered that I really liked children and was a good camp counselor.

I have much to learn from my daughter Sofia. Her minimalism exposes my limitations: I'm too instinctive and operatic, I put too much heart into my work, I get lost sometimes in bizarre things - it's my Italian heritage.

George Lucas doesn't have the most physical stamina. He was so unhappy making Star Wars that he just vowed he'd never do it again.

It's ironic that at age 32, at probably the greatest moment of my career, with The Godfather having such an enormous success, I wasn't even aware of it, because I was somewhere else under the deadline again.

Art depends on luck and talent.

I've been failing for like, ten or eleven years. When it turns, it'll turn. Right now I'm just tryin' to squeeze through a very tight financial period, get the movie out, and put my things in order.

I always think upon Lee Strasberg with warmth, and reviewing his wisdom is a pleasure.