To seduce a woman famous for strict morals, religious fervor and the happiness of her marriage: what could possibly be more prestigious?

I think there's something degrading about having a husband for a rival. It's humiliating if you fail and commonplace if you succeed.

Masturbation is the thinking man's television.

If I had to give a definition of capitalism I would say: the process whereby American girls turn into American women.

I have always thought of sophistication as rather a feeble substitute for decadence.

I like L.A., but I think whats changed is that the kinds of films I do, the mid-range dramatic film, has become an endangered species.

You see, I always divide people into two groups. Those who live by what they know to be a lie, and those who live by what they believe, falsely, to be the truth.

You know very well that unless you're a scientist, it's much more important for a theory to be shapely, than for it to be true.

There is a sort of theory that you should adapt bad books because they always make more successful films.

I'm ashamed to say the first play I saw at the Royal Court was mine.

My problem is I'm a man of no convictions - at least, I think I am.

Those who know how one should die knew how one should live.

Musicians tend to get bored playing the same thing over and over, so I think it's natural to experiment.

I'd rather you walk with the bases loaded.

Maybe something that's acceptable in your teens or 20s is unacceptable in your 30s or 40s

I had ideas first, wealth second. It only worked in that order.

I wouldn't write a book, because saying the word I over and over again would nauseate me.

Try your hand at everything. Figure out what your space in the world is and take it. Then you can let other people in who will celebrate that about you, not try to turn you into something else.

Don't you run around here trying to make friends with somebody who's depriving you of your rights. They're not your friends, no, they're your enemies. Treat them like that.

Hey, hey, the working man, the working man like me. I ain't never been on welfare, that's one place I won't be.

I don't believe I am influencing anybody but myself.