Scriptwriting is the toughest part of the whole racket... the least understood and the least noticed.

There’s music in my films but you seldom hear it. Very early I got the idea that the important things in films were people – the actors. They are the intermediary between the director and the audience. They make direct contact. People to people communication.

In our film profession you may have Gable’s looks, Tracy’s art, Marlene’s legs or Liz’s violet eyes, but they don’t mean a thing without that swinging thing called courage.

Things own you. That’s the trouble with capitalism. Things own you. With communism and fascism – ideas own you. One idea and you can’t have any other.

Capitalism is supposedly free enterprise. Supposedly about the free individual. But capitalism itself is so massive that the guy on the street gets caught in paying rent, taxes, and he doesn’t own himself at all.

Most ideologies of the world are not for the individual. They’re against the individual. Communism, fascism. Any kind of an ism – almost – they’re against the individual.

All you can do is learn the skills of movies. Neither colleges nor anyone else can teach you creativity. They can teach you abilities to work with – you know how to use the gifts you’ve been born with.

One is never completely satisfied. But I can say that I’m not dissatisfied. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been given some gifts – to take advantage of the contemporary times when I made movies. Gifts to make audiences laugh.

I’m a living example of getting into films backwards. Merely by accident. Exposure to films and ideas is the best thing that colleges can do.

My Advice to Young Filmmakers is This: Don’t Follow Trends. Start Them!