Billy Wilder

On Ernst Lubitsch: He could do more with a closed door than other directors could do with an open fly.

— Billy Wilder

Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award.

— Billy Wilder

Ever notice how these European trains always smell of eau de cologne and hard boiled eggs?

— Billy Wilder

Make subtlety obvious.

— Billy Wilder

Hollywood didn't kill Marilyn Monroe, it's the Marilyn Monroes who are killing Hollywood.

— Billy Wilder

She was an absolute genius as a comedic actress, with an extraordinary sense for comedic dialogue. It was a God-given gift. Believe…

— Billy Wilder

You're as good as the best thing you've ever done.

— Billy Wilder

Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also.

— Billy Wilder

“Goodbye, Baby. Walter Neff (Fred McMurray) Double Indemnity”

— Billy Wilder

I'm not happy. I'm not happy at all.

— Billy Wilder

If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.

— Billy Wilder

The only pictures worth making are the ones that are playing with fire.

— Billy Wilder

“That's the trouble with you readers. You know all the plots.”

— Billy Wilder

I would rather sleep in a bathroom than in another hotel.

— Billy Wilder

A bad play folds and is forgotten, but in pictures we don't bury our dead. When you think it's out of your…

— Billy Wilder

The best director is the one you don't see.

— Billy Wilder

[on pop idol Donny Osmond] He has Van Gogh's ear for music.

— Billy Wilder

Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone elses.

— Billy Wilder

I met a lot of hard-boiled eggs in my life, but you - you're twenty minutes.

— Billy Wilder

Agents are like tires on a car; in order to get anywhere at all, you need at least four of them, and…

— Billy Wilder

It was hell at the time, but after it was over, it was wonderful.

— Billy Wilder

An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark…

— Billy Wilder

The ultimate trick is to convince, persuade. Every single person out there is an idiot, but collectively they're a genius.

— Billy Wilder

It was a hot afternoon and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along the street. How can I have…

— Billy Wilder

[about the Hotel Marmont on Sunset Blvd., a piece of Hollywood history] I would rather sleep in a bathroom than in another…

— Billy Wilder