I can only say that whatever my life and work have been, I`m not envious of anyone-and this is my biggest satisfaction.

I did not have a reputation to defend.

Every failure made me more confident. Because I wanted even more to achieve as revenge. To show that I could.

I would never think of doing a movie for children if I did not have any. A lot of things in the film I know about. I relate to all the sufferings much more now that I have kids. I see it from the outside now. And before, I didn`t. Children have this capacity for resistance, and they accept things as they are, maybe because they have no other reference. They are somehow more flexible; they adapt much faster than adults.

A lot has changed for me. My life has improved. It`s not only children, but the relationship with my wife is the best thing that ever happened to me.

I want people to go to the movies. I am the man of the spectacle. I`m playing.

You have to show violence the way it is. If you don`t show it realistically, then that`s immoral and harmful. If you don`t upset people, then that`s obscenity.

Hollywood is like that. A spoiled brat that screams for possession of a toy and then tosses it out of the baby buggy.

I don`t really know what is shocking. When you tell the story of a man who is beheaded, you have to show how they cut off his head. If you don`t, it`s like telling a dirty joke and leaving out the punch line.

I am not a fortune teller. I would like to be judged for my work, and not for my life. If there is any possibility of changing your destiny, it may be only in your creative life, certainly not in your life, period.

If you have a great passion it seems that the logical thing is to see the fruit of it, and the fruit are children.

(To the press after the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, in 1969) "...All of you know how beautiful she was but few of you know how good she was."

Every film I make represents a departure for me. You see, it takes so long to make a film. By the time you get to the next one you`re already a different man. You`ve grown up by one or two years.

[on Faye Dunaway] She was a gigantic pain in the ass. She demonstrated certifiable proof of insanity.

I still had some honor... I still have some now.

[on Harrison Ford] Often when Harrison read a line, it was a different reading than I anticipated, but it worked. Somehow, it was more inspiring or original than what I had in mind.

[on Jack Nicholson] Jack! You see how angry he gets in a scene? Unbelievably scary! He can not stop, he goes into a kind of it, you dunno whether he is acting any more!

First comes my love of my work (in movies), but secondary to the creation itself is the need to get laid.

I know that atmosphere of the Parisian apartment building, with the twin menaces of the concierge on the ground floor and the landlord upstairs.

People like Truffaut, Lelouch and Godard are like little kids playing at being revolutionaries. I`ve passed through this stage. I lived in a country where these things happened seriously.

In Paris, one is always reminded of being a foreigner. If you park your car wrong, it is not the fact that it`s on the sidewalk that matters, but the fact that you speak with an accent.

I never made a film which fully satisfied me.

Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.

Whenever I get happy, I always have a terrible feeling.

I can only say that whatever my life and work have been, I`m not envious of anyone, and this is my biggest satisfaction.

The best films are because of nobody but the director.

[On his style of filmmaking] "I don`t really know what is shocking. When you tell the story of a man who is beheaded, you have to show how they cut off his head. If you don`t, it`s like telling a dirty joke and leaving out the punch line."

[On filmmaking] "You have to show violence the way it is. If you don`t show it realistically, then that`s immoral and harmful. If you don`t upset people, then that`s obscenity."

My films are the expression of momentary desires. I follow my instincts, but in a disciplined way.

Normal love isn`t interesting. I assure you that it`s incredibly boring.