Quotes from Orson Welles

Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.

I like the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.

Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions.

The best thing commercially, which is the worst artistically, by and large, is the most successful.

Only very intelligent people don't wish they were in politics, and I'm dumb enough to want to be in there.

We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.

A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong.

I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.

Criminals are never very amusing. It's because they're failures. Those who make real money aren't counted as criminals. This is a class distinction, not an ethical problem.

I don't pray because I don't want to bore God.

Personally, I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband. If she'll fool her husband, I figure she'll fool me.

The only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old, so I guess I'll concentrate on that. Maybe I'll live so long that I'll forget her—maybe I'll die trying.

If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends.

I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.

I have the terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theatre, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai.

Ecstasy is not really part of the scene we can do on celluloid.

Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that's printed about him.

Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.

Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.

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.

Race hate isn't human nature; race hate is the abandonment of human nature.

The ideal American type is perfectly expressed by the Protestant, individualist, anti-conformist, and this is the type that is in the process of disappearing. In reality there are few left.

The laws and the stage, both are a form of exhibitionism.

They teach anything in universities today. You can major in mud pies.