Stanley Kubrick

The greatest nations have all acted like gangsters and the smallest like prostitutes.

There's something in the human personality which resents things that are clear, and conversely, something which is attracted to puzzles, enigmas, and allegories.

I have always enjoyed dealing with a slightly surrealistic situation and presenting it in a realistic manner.

The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.

The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. If it can be written or thought, it can be filmed.

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.

A filmmaker has almost the same freedom as a novelist has when he buys himself some paper.

Any time you take a chance you better be sure the rewards are worth the risk because they can put you away just as fast for a ten dollar heist as they can for a million dollar job.

Here's to five miserable months on the wagon and the irreparable harm that it's caused me.

I never learned anything at all in school and didn't read a book for pleasure until I was 19 years old.