Elia Kazan

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

I said to Tennessee, this thing is becoming the Marlon Brando show.

When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you don't know what the hell is going on.

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

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

The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.

The makers of entertainment must try, in our field, to be honest and grown-up.

I didn't have that much confidence. Maybe it looks that way. I'm glad it does.

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

Every picture that is successful has one little miracle in it.

I owe Bankhead a gift; she made a director out of me.

Every fighter has one fight that makes or breaks him.

I may be getting old, but not foolish.

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

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

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

I was the true future. I understood Communism better than they did.

I was even superior to the Communists and when they didn't go along with me, I quit them.

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

I was very intense. I think it's a privilege to be an actor.