Quotes By Francis Ford Coppola

A number of images put together a certain way become something quite above and beyond what any of them are individually.

I was the kind of kid that had some talents or ability, but it never came out in school.

Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful.

We do things for good reasons that are bad.

The internet in hotels should be free - and I really resent it when they charge you five dollars for a bottle of water beside your bed.

We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.

All of a sudden, there are great Japanese films, or great Italian films, or great Australian films. It's usually because there are a number of people that cross-pollinated each other.

People feel the worst film I made was 'Jack.' But to this day, when I get checks from old movies I've made, 'Jack' is one of the biggest ones. No one knows that. If people hate the movie, they hate the movie. I just wanted to work with Robin Williams.

I had a number of very strong personalities in my family. My father was a concert flutist, the solo flute for Toscanini.

You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you'll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost.

I had an older brother who was very interested in literature, so I had an early exposure to literature, and and theater. My father sometimes would work in musical comedies.

Roger Corman exploited all of the young people who worked for him, but he really gave you responsibility and opportunity. So it was kind of a fair deal.

I remember growing up with television, from the time it was just a test pattern, with maybe a little bit of programming once in a while.

I like simplicity; I don't need luxury.

My film is not a movie; it's not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.

Steven Spielberg is unique. I feel that the kinds of movies he loves are the same kinds of movies that the big mass audience loves. He's very fortunate because he can do the things he naturally likes the best, and he's been very successful.

I was never sloppy with other people's money. Only my own. Because I figure, well, you can be.

Art depends on luck and talent.

The essence of cinema is editing. It's the combination of what can be extraordinary images of people during emotional moments, or images in a general sense, put together in a kind of alchemy.

I had a number of teachers who hated me. I didn't do well in school.

When I was sixteen or seventeen, I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a playwright. But everything I wrote, I thought, was weak. And I can remember falling asleep in tears because I had no talent the way I wanted to have.

Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

Ten Days That Shook The World, by Eisenstein, I went to see it, and I was so impressed with this film, so impressed with what cinema could do.

Listen, if there's one sure-fire rule that I have learned in this business, it's that I don't know anything about human nature.

Usually, the stuff that's your best idea or work is going to be attacked the most.

I've been offered lots of movies. There's always some actor who's doing a project and would like to have me do it. But you look at the project and think, 'Gee, there are a lot of good directors who could do that.' I'd like to do something only I can do.

I associate my motion picture career more with being unhappy and scared, or being under the gun, than with anything pleasant.

They needed someone to write a script of The Great Gatsby very quickly for the movie they were making. I took this job so I'd be sure to have some dough to support my family.

I had been a kid that moved so much, I didn't have a lot of friends. Theater really represented camaraderie.

The professional world was much more unpleasant than I thought. I was always wishing I could get back that enthusiasm I had when I was doing shows at college.