Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

Never underestimate the narcissism of a writer.

— Elia Kazan

Wonder is our need today, not information.

— Elia Kazan

Every fighter has one fight that makes or breaks him.

— Elia Kazan

I may be getting old, but not foolish.

— Elia Kazan

I was always a self-conscious person.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

“I am not a cosmic orphan.”

— Elia Kazan

I want to thank the Academy for its courage and generosity.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

You have no idea how fragile an actor's self-worth is.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

I won't go back to the theater. I like some of the things they're doing but it's different now, not something I…

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

I wouldn't go up on a stage now if you paid a thousand dollars for one minute of acting. It's a nasty…

— Elia Kazan

One final thing a director needs: The ability to say 'I am wrong' or 'I was wrong.' Not as easy as it…

— Elia Kazan

I know many of the critics and I don't think of them as God-like figures. What can they do to hurt me?…

— Elia Kazan

The physical life of the scene is determined by whether the set squeezes people together or whether the set has an escape…

— Elia Kazan

When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you…

— Elia Kazan

I've come to believe that everything worth achieving is beyond one's capacity - or seems so at first. The thing is to…

— Elia Kazan

There aren't many male stars - that's a loose term - like Kirk [Douglas] around. Most of those virile personalities have to…

— Elia Kazan

Some directors, like Stevens [George Stevens], shoot full circle, 360 degrees, and that's what's right for them. I generally shoot at about…

— Elia Kazan

It's difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor;…

— Elia Kazan

Criticism- a big bite out of someone's back.

— Elia Kazan

You can't just sit there and do the lines. You have to do something revealing or unusual.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

I'm very pro-America, but I feel it necessary to keep in touch with Europe to maintain a perspective.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

I knew the exuberance of playing before an admiring audience and hearing my secret voice.

— Elia Kazan

I value peace when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies.

— Elia Kazan

Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.

— Elia Kazan

I don't remember anything anybody said in any Jack Ford picture. Nothing happens except action.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

People made suggestions, but, hell, I don't actually listen to anybody, I just go my own way.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan