Writer Quotes by Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

I didn't have the problem of finding myself at 45 on the wrong course - I always wanted to be a film director.

— Elia Kazan

Never underestimate the narcissism of a writer.

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

If you're going to play a cowboy, show up with the horse at the audition

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

There was no doubt that there was a vast organization which was making fools of all the liberals in Hollywood and taking their money,…

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— 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; it reveals…

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan

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

— Elia Kazan