War is so complex; human nature is so complex. There’s no filmmaker who has ever figured it out perfectly.

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.

Every philosophical problem, when it is subjected to the necessary analysis and justification, is found either to be not really philosophical at all, or else to be, in the sense in which we are using the word, logical.

You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

Man consists of two parts, his mind and his body, only the body has more fun.

When you think about it, Adolf Hitler was the first pop star.

The vast majority of human beings dislike and even actually dread all notions with which they are not familiar… Hence it comes about that at their first appearance innovators have generally been persecuted, and always derided as fools and madmen.

A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.

I was born during the war and grew up in a time of rationing. We didn’t have anything. It’s influenced the way I look at the world.

I think the materialist conception of history is valid.

Philosophy is common sense with big words.

The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.

One cannot violate the promptings of one’s nature without having that nature recoil upon itself.

I read the book of Job last night, I don’t think God comes out well in it.

There can be no doubt that the average man blames much more than he praises. His instinct is to blame. If he is satisfied he says nothing; if he is not, he most illogically kicks up a row.

We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come from that.

If human beings were shown what they’re really like, they’d either kill one another as vermin, or hang themselves.

It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive.

The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.

We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.

When you’re writing a novel, you don’t want the reader to come out of it voting yes or no to some question. Life is more complicated than that. Reality simply consists of different points of view.

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, and wretches hang that jurymen may dine.

I gave ‚em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I’d have done the same thing.

Take the diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week.

I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public.

It was a challenge, to work with Oliver Stone.

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

O‘ What may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!

The racing is quite boring, sometimes. It’s hard to see how it pulls in fans.

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.

To insure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough, a police force is needed as well.

It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.

Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes… can no longer be of concern to great powers alone.

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

History should be written as philosophy.

The abdomen is the reason why man does not readily take himself to be a god.

Biography lends to death a new terror.

The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.

It’s not just human nature to associate in tribes. It’s deeper than that.

Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age.

In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

Power is a complicated word and can take many forms.

In the last analysis, even the best man is evil: in the last analysis, even the best woman is bad.

What an ugly beast the ape, and how like us.

Maleficent has suffered abuse in the past, and there’s a reason why she is now as furious as she is. And I think that children who have been outcast and abused in any way will relate to her. There’s a beautiful side to her; she’s not just a dark person. She has all these facets. And that is interesting.

Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Man is an idea, and a precious small idea once he turns his back on love.

See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise, you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.

It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.

I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.

Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.

Everybody, to some extent, manipulates. Even children learn to cry when they want something. There are all kinds of subtle things we do to get others to follow our lead, not bother us, and so on.