Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out?

The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They indeed are not great writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them. 

The more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation.

My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.

The chief merit of language is clearness, and we know that nothing detracts so much from this as do unfamiliar terms.

Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?

Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

Speak and speed; the close mouth catches no flies.

Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he.

Methinks the human method of expression by sound of tongue is very elementary and ought to be substituted for some ingenious invention which should be able to give vent to at least six coherent sentences at once.

Unexemplary words and unfounded doctrines are avoided by the noble person. Why utter them?

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.