“When Chaplin found a voice to say what was on his mind, he was like a child of eight writing lyrics for Beethoven’s Ninth.” … Read More
“I hate that word. It’s return–a return to the millions of people who’ve never forgiven me for deserting the screen.” Billy Wilder
“I’m not happy. I’m not happy at all.” Billy Wilder
“[about the Hotel Marmont on Sunset Blvd., a piece of Hollywood history] I would rather sleep in a bathroom than in another hotel.” Billy … Read More
“Jerry: Oh, you don’t understand, Osgood! Ehhhh… I’m a man. Osgood: Well, nobody’s perfect.” Billy Wilder
“[on pop idol Donny Osmond] He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” Billy Wilder
“Ever notice how these European trains always smell of eau de cologne and hard boiled eggs?” Billy Wilder
“Marilyn was mean. Terribly mean. The meanest woman I have ever met around this town. I have never met anybody as mean as Marilyn Monroe … Read More
“I’d worship the ground you walked on if only you walked in a better neighborhood.” Billy Wilder
“What critics call dirty in our pictures, they call lusty in foreign films.” Billy Wilder
“I had one life. And what did I do? Wasted it in some palooka preliminaries in Spain, just before Hitler and Chamberlain warm up for … Read More
“I’m delighted with it, because it used to be that films were the lowest form of art. Now we’ve got something to look down on.” … Read More
“The ultimate trick is to convince, persuade. Every single person out there is an idiot, but collectively they’re a genius.” Billy Wilder
“The forest of Compiegne. Look at it. Like a kind grandmother dozing in her rocking chair. Old trees practicing curtsies in the wind because they … Read More
“On Ernst Lubitsch: He could do more with a closed door than other directors could do with an open fly.” Billy Wilder
“You know, that stuff about pink elephants, that’s the bunk. It’s little animals. Little tiny turkeys in straw hats. Midget monkeys coming through the keyholes.” … Read More
“God save me from myself.” Billy Wilder
“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” Billy Wilder
“A bad play folds and is forgotten, but in pictures we don’t bury our dead. When you think it’s out of your system, your daughter … Read More
“I met a lot of hard-boiled eggs in my life, but you – you’re twenty minutes.” Billy Wilder
