I still think like a critic, and I still analyze films like a critic. However, it's not possible to write criticism if you're making films.

I want to be happy; why do I do things that make me unhappy?

Those artists who say that somehow therapy or analysis will thwart their creativity are completely misinformed. It's absolutely the opposite: it opens closed doors.

I still think like a critic, and I still analyze films like a critic. However, it's not possible to write criticism if you're making films.

Ultimately, it's an illusion that you can understand yourself.

'Taxi Driver' wasn't autobiographical in terms of the actual events, but I did draw on my own mental state.

As screenwriters, we struggle with our own success. We have wallpapered our world and now we can't get anyone to notice the picture we just hung.

I teach a course in screenwriting at Columbia, but I've never taken a course and I've never read a book about it!

I was raised as a Calvinist, which is doctrine-driven. And though there are many things wrong with Calvinism, you are at least encouraged to argue about things.

If you write interesting roles, you get interesting people to play them. If you write roles that are full of nuance and contradiction and have interesting dialog, actors are drawn to that.

People who act against their own best interests are interesting characters.

The only economic paradigm that movies have ever known is capitalism. There were no church sponsors or state patronage. The idea was that if you'd pay to see it, we'll make it for you.

Look whos here big mouth. Now the whole neighborhood will know.

The clock is impotent mechanical time does not affect those living in an eternal present.

Film noir is not a genre. It is not defined, as are the western and gangster genres, by conventions of setting and conflict, but rather by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood. It is a film 'noir', as opposed to the possible variants of film gray or film off-white.

Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.

To what derision should I be exposed from a thousand quarters!- An unlearned female entering the lists of criticism against the mighty Johnson!

The best thing I can think of would be to create a union between something as beautiful and powerful and wonderful as Hollywood films and a criticism of the status quo. That's my dream, to make such a German film.

Though bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects.

No American soldier should be allowed to set foot on Iranian soil, regardless of the criticism we have of the Iranian government.

The English can be a very critical, unforgiving people, but criticism can be good. And this is a country that loves comedy.

Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.

The dread of criticism is the death of genius.

This issue, if not addressed, leaves any President, including George Bush, open to the criticism that they are essentially ignoring the destruction of the nation and I believe that with all my heart.

A woman's flattery may inflate a man's head a little; but her criticism goes straight to his heart, and contracts it so that it can never again hold quite as much love for her.

I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise.

The strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticized.

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a stranger.

Of course the French are making very credible movies and it is still one of the greatest nations in terms of world cinema but the real problem is the decay in film criticism.

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.

Dodi got a lot of criticism when he began dating Princess Diana. No one seemed to think he was good enough for her.

Painting what I experience, translating what I feel, is like a great liberation. But it is also work, self-examination, consciousness, criticism, struggle.

Poetry; a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.

The other part of our proposal that gets the 'dittoheads' upset is our suggestion that the commercial radio station owners either play by the rules or pay. In other words, if they don't want to be subject to local criticism of how they are meeting their license obligations, they should pay to support public broadcasters who will operate on behalf of the local community.

In marriage there are no manners to keep up, and beneath the wildest accusations no real criticism. Each is familiar with that ancient child in the other who may erupt again. We are not ridiculous to ourselves. We are ageless. That is the luxury of the wedding ring.

I think the hardest part about being a teenager is dealing with other teenagers - the criticism and the ridicule, the gossip and rumors.

You can't operate a company by fear, because the way to eliminate fear is to avoid criticism. And the way to avoid criticism is to do nothing.

Be kind and considerate with your criticism... It's just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good book.

The art of the critic in a nutshell: to coin slogans without betraying ideas. The slogans of an inadequate criticism peddle ideas to fashion.

I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I do believe that criticism is a genre of literature or it does not exist.

I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.

Despite a decade of criticism and budget cuts, the specialised UN agencies have far more expertise and hands-on experience than any other organisations in the world.

It would be very easy for us to do a collection that everybody would like and not criticize. But criticism is a part of life. You have to take it.

The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art - and, by analogy, our own experience - more, rather than less, real to us. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means.

Dare to risk public criticism.

In this age of consumerism film criticism all over the world - in America first but also in Europe - has become something that caters for the movie industry instead of being a counterbalance.

Few are there that will leave the secure seclusion of the scholar's life, the peaceful walks of literature and learning, to stand out a target for the criticism of unkind and hostile minds.

What we don't need in country music is divisiveness, public criticism of each other, and some arbitrary judgement of what belongs and what doesn't.