Orson Welles
Citizen Kane, transformed cinema and radio
Most quoted
"I hate to be a failure. I hate and regret the failure of my personal life. I've been married three times. I've been a father. I've been a lover. I've been a friend. I've been a lot of things. I've been a lot of things that I'm not now. I've been a lot of things that I'm not now. I've been a lot of things that I'm not now."
"I believe that television is going to be the test of the modern world, and that in this new opportunity to see beyond the range of our vision we shall discover either a new and unbearable disturbance of the general peace or a saving radiance in the sky. We shall stand or fall by television—of that I am quite sure."
— from Speech: 'The Mercury Theatre on the Air', 1938
"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love—they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
— from Film: The Third Man (as Harry Lime), 1949
All quotes by Orson Welles (351)
The greatest art is that which conceals art.
I've always been drawn to the dark side of human nature.
The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working.
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
The cinema, like the novel, is a form of expression that can be used to explore the human condition.
I've always been a bit of a dreamer.
The most exciting thing about making films is that you never know what's going to happen next.
I'm not interested in making films that are easy to categorize. I want to make films that defy categorization.
The only way to truly understand a person is to walk a mile in their shoes.
We are born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for a moment that we're not alone.
I hate television. I hate it as much as I hate peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.
If there hadn't been a war, I would have been a great actor. I would have been a great director. I would have been a great writer. But there was a war, and I was a great director.
I don't say I'm a genius. I just say I'm a very talented man.
The absence of a film is a film.
I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves.
The camera is a great liar.
I am a showman, and I have to put on a show.
The more you know about life, the less you believe in it.
I have a great love for the common man. I just don't want to be one of them.
The artist is a man who is always alone, even in a crowd.
Contemporaries of Orson Welles
Other Film & Theaters born within 50 years of Orson Welles (1915–1985).