Quotes By Elia Kazan

The world was like a huge red carpet out ahead of me to be walked on. And it stretched on and on, no end.

A film director has to get a shot, no matter what he does. We're desperate people.

The motion pictures I have made and the plays I have chosen to direct represent my convictions.

I used to spend most of my time straining to be a nice guy so people would like me.

Very often the Group actor is a critic when he's acting and an actor when he's criticizing.

The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate.

Stylized acting and direction is to realistic acting and direction as poetry is to prose.

The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.

Hey, you must be doin' good, 'cause I never hear from you.

A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.

You've got to keep fighting - you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.

The physical life of the scene is determined by whether the set squeezes people together or whether the set has an escape place in it.

The thing about Brando was that I'd make these directions, and he'd walk away. He'd heard enough... to get the machine going.

I was always a self-conscious person.

Acting... was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick?

To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but is bitter and unforgettable.

I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am.

I question the value of stars. I think they're overrated. They get too much money, too much praise.

For years after I resigned, I was still faithful to their way of thinking. But not in the American Communists.

What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties.

I'm small, but I'm neither compliant nor agreeable.

I was not what you'd call a first-class actor, but I did all right.

I was taken in by what might be called the Hard Times version of the Communists' advertising or recruiting technique.

I think there should be collaboration, but under my thumb.

I truly believe that all power corrupts. Such is probably the thinking behind every political film ever made in Hollywood.

I may be getting old, but not foolish.

Anybody who informs on other people is doing something disturbing and even disgusting.

The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep.

Miller didn't write Death of a Salesman. He released it. It was there inside him, waiting to be turned loose. That's the measure of its merit.

You have to remind people of their own struggles. It's a responsibility.