Famous Quotes by Orson Welles

  • Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing. More
  • The roses you lifted to your lips ... lucky roses! More
  • Nothing is permanent in this wicked world—not even our troubles. More
  • This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it. More
  • Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference. More
  • I suppose that’s one of the ironies of life—doing the wrong thing at the right moment. More
  • No doubt you were extremely beautiful as a young girl, but your youth could never compete with... More
  • One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. Numbers sanctify, my good fellow. More
  • I do not wish to lose my temper because very shortly I will lose my head. Nevertheless, upon... More
  • In Italy, for thirty years, under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed.... More
  • Of course, killing you is killing myself. It’s the same thing. But, you know, I’m pretty... More
  • Bernstein: “Girls delightful in Cuba stop. Could send you prose poems about scenery but don’t... More
  • Captain Hank Quinlan: C’mon, read my future for me.
    Tanya: You haven’t got... More
  • Captain Quinlan: When this case is over, I’ll come around some night and sample some of your... More
  • Charles Foster Kane: Look, Mr. Carter. Here is a three-column headline in the Chronicle. Why... More
  • Rosebud. More
  • I warn you, Jedediah, you’re not going to like it in Chicago. The wind comes howling in off the... More
  • Charles Foster Kane: You always said you wanted to live in a palace.
    Susan Alexander: Oh, a... More
  • Elsa Bannister: The Chinese say “It is difficult for love to last long; therefore one who loves... More
  • The director is simply the audience. So the terrible burden of the director is to take the place... More
  • Criminals are never very amusing. It’s because they’re failures. Those who make real money... More
  • Perhaps a man like you can’t realize what it is to have a conscience and no memory at all. Do... More
  • Now I’m going to tell you about a scorpion. This scorpion wanted to cross a river, so he asked... More
  • A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated, something is wrong. More
  • If there hadn’t been women we’d still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made... More
  • Only very intelligent people don’t wish they were in politics, and I’m dumb enough to want to... More
  • I hate it when people pray on the screen. It’s not because I hate praying, but whenever I see... More
  • Ecstasy is not really part of the scene we can do on celluloid. More
  • The ideal American type is perfectly expressed by the Protestant, individualist, anti-conformist,... More
  • I think we’re a kind of desperation. We’re sort of a maddening luxury. The basic and... More
  • The day after he’d met her, he told me about her. He said she was a cross-section of the... More
  • After the first couple of months, she and Charlie didn’t see much of each other except at... More
  • Personally, I don’t like a girlfriend to have a husband. If she’ll fool her husband, I figure... More
  • Everybody is somebody’s fool. The only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old, so I guess... More
  • I’ve always found it very sanitary to be broke. More
  • I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can’t stop eating peanuts. More
  • When you are down and out something always turns up—and it is usually the noses of your friends. More
  • I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they... More
  • The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in... More
  • I rather think the cinema will die. Look at the energy being exerted to revive it—yesterday it... More
  • Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories... More
  • We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we... More
  • Everybody denies I am a genius—but nobody ever called me one! More
  • He was some kind of man. What does it matter what you say about people? More
  • You should lay off those candy bars.... You’re a mess, honey. More
  • Thatcher: Now tell me honestly, my boy. Don’t you think it’s rather unwise to continue this... More
  • Thatcher: You’re too old to call me “Mr. Thatcher,” Charles.
    Charles Foster Kane:... More
  • Mily: You must remember me!?
    Tadeusz: I never remember pretty women. It’s so... More
  • Did you ever stop to think why cops are always famous for being dumb? Simple. Because they... More
  • Crooks aren’t the worst people, just the stupidest. The fleas of the world. More
  • Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, strange... More
  • Thompson: Nothing particular the matter with him, they tell me, just ...
    Bernstein: Just old... More
  • Uncle Joe Grandi: Who are you talking about?
    Susan Vargas: I’m talking about you, you... More

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