Martin Scorsese Quotes

The only person who has the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me was Buster Keaton.

(on sports) Anything with a ball, no good.

(on Raging Bull (1980)): (Robert De Niro) wanted to make this film. Not me. I don`t understand anything about boxing. For me, it`s like a physical game of chess.

It seems to me that any sensible person must see that violence does not change the world and if it does, then only temporarily.

I`m in a different chapter of my life. As time goes by and I grow older, I find that I need to just be quiet and think. There have been periods when I`ve locked myself away for days, but now it`s different - I`m married and we have a daughter who is in my office the whole time.

If I continue to make films about New York, they will probably be set in the past. The "new" New York I don`t know much about. It`s not that I`m against contemporary film. I`m open to it in general, but I find the new colors of the city, the new Times Square, kind of shocking. I guess I`m stuck in a time warp.

My whole life has been movies and religion. That`s it. Nothing else.

I`m a lapsed Catholic. But I am Roman Catholic - there`s no way out of it.

(on the Iraq war) One hopes that this kind of war can be done diplomatically, with intelligence rather than wiping out a lot of innocent civilians.

(on Robert De Niro) And even now I still know of nobody who can surprise me on the screen the way he does -- and did then. No actor comes to mind who can provide such power and excitement.

I think what happened there was just the budget would be too big to build these sets because nothing really exists here in New York of that period; you have to build it all.

(On stage at the 2007 Oscars after winning for Best Director) "Could you double-check the envelope..."

I think there`s only one or two films where I`ve had all the financial support I needed. All the rest, I wish I`d had the money to shoot another ten days.

The term `giant` is used too often to describe artists. But in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits.

And as I`ve gotten older, I`ve had more of a tendency to look for people who live by kindness, tolerance, compassion, a gentler way of looking at things.

I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the community. I`ve lived here in Los Angeles, but I`m more of a New Yorker, and the nature of my films is regarded as somewhat violent and the language is considered tough. As you grow older, you change. I make different films now. You don`t make pictures for Oscars.

I love studying Ancient History and seeing how empires rise and fall, sowing the seeds of their own destruction.

I also saw the Dalai Lama a few times.

I grew up within Italian-American neighborhoods, everybody was coming into the house all the time, kids running around, that sort of stuff, so when I finally got into my own area, so to speak, to make films, I still carried on.

I don`t agree with everything he did in his life, but we`re dealing with this Howard Hughes, at this point. And also ultimately the flaw in Howard Hughes, the curse so to speak.

What does it take to be a filmmaker in Hollywood? Even today I still wonder what it takes to be a professional or even an artist in Hollywood. How do you survive the constant tug of war between personal expression and commercial imperatives? What is the price you pay to work in Hollywood? Do you end up with a split personality? Do you make one movie for them, one for yourself?

I do know that some Buddhists are able to attain peace of mind.

I can`t really envision a time when I`m not shooting something.

(about The Departed (2006)) "It`s the only movie of mine with a plot."

I always say that I`ve been in a bad mood for maybe 35 years now. I try to lighten it up, but that`s what comes out when you get me on camera.

There must be people who remember World War II and the Holocaust who can help us get out of this rut.

More personal films, you could make them, but your budgets would be cut down.

Cinema is a matter of what`s in the frame and what`s out.

I just wanted to be an ordinary parish priest.

I think when you`re young and have that first burst of energy and make five or six pictures in a row that tell the stories of all the things in life you want to say . . . well, maybe those are the films that should have won me the Oscar. When Taxi Driver (1976) was up for Best Picture, it got three other nominations: Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster) and Best Music. But the director and writer were overlooked. I was so disappointed, I said, `You know what?That`s the way it`s going to be.` What was I going to do, go home and cry?

I certainly wasn`t able to get it when I was a kid growing up on the Lower East Side; it was very hard at that time for me to balance what I really believed was the right way to live with the violence I saw all around me - I saw too much of it among the people I knew.

On the one hand, you`re the same person, but as you get older, you change somewhat, and you never know how it`s going to affect your work.

I know there were many good policemen who died doing their duty. Some of the cops were even friends of ours. But a cop can go both ways.

There is no such thing as pointless violence. `City of God` (Cidade de Deus (2002)), is that pointless violence? It`s reality, it`s real life, it has to do with the human condition. Being involved in Christianity and Catholicism when I was very young, you have that innocence, the teachings of Christ. Deep down you want to think that people are really good - but the reality outweighs that.

(on "political correctness) "You can hardly say anything about minorities now. It has made it extremely difficult to open your mouth."

I love the look of planes and the idea of how a plane flies. The more I learn about it the better I feel; while I still may not like it, I have a sense of what is really happening.

There`s no such thing as simple. Simple is hard.

Howard Hughes was this visionary who was obsessed with speed and flying like a god... I loved his idea of what filmmaking was.

What the Dalai Lama had to resolve was whether to stay in Tibet or leave. He wanted to stay, but staying would have meant the total destruction of Tibet, because he would have died and that would have ripped the heart out of his people.

(on working with Liza Minnelli on "New York, New York") After 15 minutes I realized that not only could she sing she could be one hell of an actress. She`s so malleable and inventive. And fun, even when things are hard.

I`m very phobic about flying, but I`m also drawn to it.

I prefer celluloid - there`s no doubt about it. Yet I know that if I was starting to make movies now, as a young person, if I could get my hands on a DV camera, I probably would have started that way...There`s no doubt I`m an older advocate of pure celluloid, but ultimately I see it going by the wayside, except in museums, and even then it could be a problem.

Eradicating a religion of kindness is, I think, a terrible thing for the Chinese to attempt.

We couldn`t have cared less about the government, especially the city government, which produced policemen who did nothing but take graft.

Now more than ever we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other and understand how we see the world, and cinema is the best medium for doing this.

It probably is better I didn`t win in the `70s or mid-`80s or something. My view on making films is somewhat different in a way, and I think maybe it`s something that . . . I was not able to handle at the time . . . Had I gotten an Oscar, maybe I would have gotten maybe an extra two days shooting, maybe a couple, you know what I`m saying?

If it`s a modern-day story dealing with certain ethnic groups, I think I could open up certain scenes for improvisation, while staying within the structure of the script.

I was born in 1942, so I was mainly aware of Howard Hughes` name on RKO Radio Pictures.

I`m going to be 60, and I`m almost used to myself.

Basically, you make another movie, and another, and hopefully you feel good about every picture you make. And you say: `My name is on that. I did that. It`s OK.` But don`t get me wrong, I still get excited by it all. That, I hope, will never disappear.

Because of the movies I make, people get nervous, because they think of me as difficult and angry. I am difficult and angry, but they don`t expect a sense of humor. And the only thing that gets me through is a sense of humor.

(on the Iraq war) "There are a lot of Americans who also feel that a lot of this war talk is economic, part of this has to do with the oil. I think it really has to come down to respecting how other people live. There`s got to be ways this can be worked out diplomatically, there simply has to be."

Every year or so, I try to do something; it keeps me refreshed as to what`s going on in front of the lens, and I understand what the actor is going through.

If I continue to make films about New York, they will probably be set in the past. The `new` New York I don`t know much about. It`s not that I`m against contemporary film. I`m open to it in general, but I find the new colours of the city, the new Times Square, kind of shocking. I guess I`m stuck in a time warp.

It did remind me of something out of Greek mythology - the richest king who gets everything he wants, but ultimately his family has a curse on it from the Gods.