Erich von Stroheim

“Lubitsch shows you first the king on the throne, then as he is in the bedroom. I show you the king in the bedroom so you'll know just what he is when you see him on his throne.”

“If you live in a cheap country, you may be a big man there... But if you live in a country where the standards are high, you may be a small man, but you are a man of that country.”

“A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant, and a bastard.”

“In Hollywood, you're as good as your last picture.”

“There are no bad parts, only bad actors.”

“They have called me a ‘detailist.’ It is true. I am a detailist. I believe in detail.”

“I make pictures for people, not for critics.”

“The director is the man who is responsible for the entire picture.”

“The public—ah, the public! The public is a child. It must be led. It must be told what to see and what not to see.”

“I have been accused of being a ‘realist.’ I am not. I am a ‘naturalist.’ There is a difference.”

“There was a time in this business when they had the eyes of the whole wide world. But that wasn't good enough for them. Oh, no! They had to have the ears of the world, too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk, talk, talk!”

“She was the greatest of them all. You wouldn't know, you're too young. In one week she received 17,000 fan letters.”

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”