The Quotable Orson Welles

So, I've been in a downright awful mood for about the last week or so. I can't recall being so down in a long time. I'm not sure it is anyone's fault (my family has actually, unknowingly, come alongside me to help me out a lot in the last week or so). This is not a post to vent however. It is kind of an interesting opportunity to name spot one of my favorite figures of the twentieth century: Mr. Orson Welles.

I did about the worst research possible and went on Brainyquote.com to get a sampling of quotes from one of the last century's most brilliant (and bitter) figures. Welles was far more eloquent than I am, so it would make sense that he would word many of my feelings better than I do. Below is a sampling of some interesting Orson Welles quotes.

DISCLAIMER - I do not actually agree with all of the quotes below. I actually, rationally, disagree with many of them. However, it's kind of a mood representation. It is a sampling of the man.

"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."

"When you are down and out something always turns up - and it is usually the noses of your friends."

"I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time."

"I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That's what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act."

"If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends."

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story."

"Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason."

"Movie directing is a perfect refuge for the mediocre."

"Nobody who takes on anything big and tough can afford to be modest."

"Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions."

"Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations."

"The best thing commercially, which is the worst artistically, by and large, is the most successful."

"A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet."

"A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong."

"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch."

"At twenty-one, so many things appear solid, permanent, untenable."

"Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others."

"Criminals are never very amusing. It's because they're failures. Those who make real money aren't counted as criminals. This is a class distinction, not an ethical problem."

"Ecstasy is not really part of the scene we can do on celluloid."

"Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that's printed about him."

"Everybody denies I am a genius - but nobody ever called me one!"

"Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation."

"I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money."

"I don't pray because I don't want to bore God."

"I don't say we all ought to misbehave, but we ought to look as if we could."

"I feel I have to protect myself against things. So I'm pretty careful to lose most of them."

"I have an unfortunate personality."