Elia Kazan Quotes
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The makers of entertainment must try, in our field, to be honest and grown-up.
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Wonder is our need today, not information.
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I hate the Communists and have for many years and don't feel right about giving up my career to defend them. I will give up my film career if it is in the interests of defending something I believe in, but not this.
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I won't go back to the theater. I like some of the things they're doing but it's different now, not something I could do. I'll go on making films the rest of my life.
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I left the theater; I literally left to begin a new life.
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I would rather do what I did than crawl in front of a ritualistic Left and lie the way those other comrades did betray my own soul.
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A film director has to get a shot, no matter what he does. We're desperate people.
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A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.
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Criticism- a big bite out of someone's back.
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I used to spend most of my time straining to be a nice guy so people would like me.
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The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate.
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The Communists automatically violated the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed.
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I was the true future. I understood Communism better than they did.
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I have no spy stories to tell, because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest.
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The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.
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To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but it is bitter and unforgettable.
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Never underestimate the narcissism of a writer.
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I may be getting old, but not foolish.
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I know many of the critics and I don't think of them as God-like figures. What can they do to hurt me? Sure, I might be slightly embarrassed for a day, but then you just go your own way.
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Anybody who informs on other people is doing something disturbing and even disgusting.
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What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties.
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I was always a self-conscious person.
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I was not what you'd call a first-class actor, but I did all right.
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The camera is more than a recorder, it's a microscope. It penetrates, it goes into people and you see their most private and concealed thoughts.
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The thing with films is that you have to make something that will get people out of their houses, away from the TV set. You must touch people, say something. Otherwise, they'll stay at home.
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Hey, you must be doin' good, 'cause I never hear from you.
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For years after I resigned, I was still faithful to their way of thinking. But not in the American Communists.
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Every picture that is successful has one little miracle in it.
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I'm going to make a film where not one word is really important. I'm going to make it all action.
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I've come to believe that everything worth achieving is beyond one's capacity - or seems so at first. The thing is to persist, not back off, fight your fight, pay your dues, and carry on. Effort is all; continue and you may get there despite everything.
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