Quotes

Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.

History consists of truths which in the end turn into lies, while myth consists of lies which finally turn into truths.

[on cinema] That temple of sex, with its goddesses, its guardians and its victims.

A film is a petrified fountain of thought.

[on the cast of "Les Parents Terribles"] If I keep Jean Marais for last, it's because his performance escapes analysis. Not only is it prodigious: he played what he used to execute, instinctively, and tripled his effects by a fusion of passion and style.

[on Marlene Dietrich] In your voice we hear the voice of Lorelei; in your look, the Lorelei turns to us. But the Lorelei was a danger to be feared. You are not, because the secret of your beauty lies in the care of your loving kindness of the heart. This care of the heart is what holds you higher than elegance, fashion or style; higher even than your fame, your courage, your bearing, your films, your songs.

[on Orson Welles] An active loafer, a wise madman.

What's a Frenchman? An Italian in a bad mood.

[on being accused by fellow-Frenchmen of fraternizing with Nazi officials during the WWII occupation] Why should the destiny of a poet change? My realm is not of this world. and the world resents me for not following the rules. I will always suffer the same injustice.

In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator.