Quotes

The way I see it, my function is to be responsible for everything.

The difference between me and other producers is that I am interested in the thousands and thousands of details that go into the making of a film. It is the sum total of all these things that either makes a great picture or destroys it.

I have never gone after honors instead of dollars. But I have understood the relationship between the two.

Very few people have mastered the art of enjoying their wealth. I have mastered the art, and therefore spend time enjoying myself.

[some examples of his philosophy] I don't want to be normal. Who wants to be normal?... Once photographed, life here is ended... It's somehow symbolic of Hollywood that Tara was just a facade, with no rooms inside... There might have been good movies if there had been no movie industry.

I have no middle name... I had an uncle, whom I greatly disliked, who was also named David Selznick, so in order to to avoid any growing confusion between the two of us, I decided to take a middle initial and went through the alphabet to find one that seemed to give me the best punctuation and decided on "O".

I'm an American and not a Jew.

There are only two classes: first class and no class.

Actors used to accept discipline. I've called [John Barrymore] into my office for not knowing his lines; he was contrite and apologetic. I had to speak to Leslie Howard, who was embarrassing Vivien Leigh by not being prepared for a scene. But you never had to speak again. They recognized their fault and corrected it.

Hollywood's like Egypt, full of crumbling pyramids. It'll just keep on crumbling until finally the wind blows the last studio prop across the sands.

I like money. I know how to use it, how to appreciate it. Actually, it's an art. The important thing in spending money is to have a true knack for self-indulgence. I don't mean an acquired self-indulgence. I mean the kind that comes naturally.

The trick in adapting novels is to give the "illusion" of photographing the entire book. This is more difficult than creating an original like A Star Is Born (1937).

[on why he did not direct] I didn't have time. Frankly, it's easier to criticize another man's work than direct myself. As a producer I can maintain an editorial perspective. I wouldn't have myself as a director.

[on John Huston's resignation from A Farewell to Arms (1957)] I am the producer and must produce. In Mr. Huston I asked for a first violinist and instead got a soloist. My conception of the producer's role is that it is similar to being the conductor of an orchestra. The conductor oversees every detail and interprets as he sees fit. I am a perfectionist. My sights are set high. But I've found that most people have to be forced into raising their sights.

[from a letter to Will Hays in October 1939 requesting permission to use the word 'damn' in Rhett's famous speech to Scarlett in "Gone With the Wind"] It is my contention that this word as used in the picture is not an oath or a curse. The worst that could be said against it is that it is a vulgarism, and it is so described in the Oxford English Dictionary.

There might have been good movies if there had been no movie industry. Hollywood might have become the center of a new human expression if it hadn't been grabbed by a little group of book-keepers and turned into a junk industry.