Top quotes by Alfred Hitchcock

A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it. Votes: 26

The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder. Votes: 22

I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it. Votes: 21

I am scared easily, here is a list of my adrenaline - production: 1: small children, 2: policemen, 3: high places, 4: that my next movie will not be as good as the last one. Votes: 21

I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach. Votes: 18

A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake. Votes: 16

For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake. Votes: 16

Television is like the invention of indoor plumbing. It didn't change people's habits. It just kept them inside the house. Votes: 16

In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director. Votes: 14

These are bagpipes. I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig. Votes: 14

We seem to have a compulsion these days to bury time capsules in order to give those people living in the next century or so some idea of what we are like. Votes: 13

Seeing a murder on television can help work off one's antagonisms. And if you haven't any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some. Votes: 13

Television is like the American toaster, you push the button and the same thing pops up everytime. Votes: 13

Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms. Votes: 12

There is nothing to winning, really. That is, if you happen to be blessed with a keen eye, an agile mind, and no scruples whatsoever. Votes: 11

This award is meaningful because it comes from my fellow dealers in celluloid. Votes: 11

When we think we have been hurt by someone in the past, we build up defenses to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future. So the fearful past causes a fearful future and the past and future become one. Votes: 11

Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints. Votes: 11

Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it. Votes: 10

I'm full of fears and I do my best to avoid difficulties and any kind of complications. I like everything around me to be clear as crystal and completely calm. Votes: 10

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. Votes: 10

Disney has the best casting. If he doesn't like an actor he just tears him up. Votes: 8

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. Votes: 7

The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them. Votes: 5

I am to provide the public with beneficial shocks. Votes: 5

I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle. Votes: 4

Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints." Votes: 4

A movie should be as long as one can hold their bladder Votes: 3

There is nothing so good as a burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating. Votes: 3

Always make the audience suffer as much as possible. Votes: 1

Some of our most exquisite murders have been domestic, performed with tenderness in simple, homey places like the kitchen table. Votes: 0

Revenge is sweet and not fattening. Votes: 0

The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture. Votes: 0

Conversation is the enemy of good wine and food. Votes: 0

There are several differences between a footballl game and a revolution. For one thing, a football game usually lasts longer and the participants wear uniforms. Also there are more injuries at a football game. Votes: 0

In a good marriage each is the others better half. Votes: 0

If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on. Votes: 0

To make a great film you need three things - the script, the script and the script. Votes: 0

Fear isn't so difficult to understand. After all, weren't we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It's just a different wolf. This fright complex is rooted in every individual. Votes: 0

The ideal husband understands every word his wife doesn't say. Votes: 0

Claude Jade is a brave nice young lady. But I don't give any guarantee what she will do on a taxi's back seat. Votes: 0

In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings. Votes: 0

In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man. Votes: 0

Our original title, you know, was `The Man in Lincoln`s Nose`. Couldn`t use it, though. They also wouldn`t let us shoot people on Mount Rushmore. Can`t deface a national monument. And it`s a pity, too, because I had a wonde. Votes: 0

One must never set up a murder. They must happen unexpectedly, as in life. Votes: 0

Give them pleasure - the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare. Votes: 0

Self-plagiarism is style. Votes: 0

I'm not against the police; I'm just afraid of them. Votes: 0

Puns are the highest form of literature. Votes: 0

Actually, I have no regard for money. Aside from its purchasing power, it's completely useless as far as I'm concerned. Votes: 0

I'm not much into rear window ethics. Votes: 0

This award is meaningful because it comes from my fellow dealers in celluloid Votes: 0

Love those wrongdoers, they need it more than you. Votes: 0

I have never known birds of different species to flock together. The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldn't stand a chance! How could we possibly hope to fight them? Votes: 0

When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, 'It's in the script.' If he says, 'But what's my motivation?, ' I say, 'Your salary.' Votes: 0

Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders. Votes: 0

You think she's pretty, you ought to see my slingshot! Votes: 0

Luck is everything... My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I'm fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn't make a good suspense film. Votes: 0

Television has brought back murder into the home - where it belongs. Votes: 0

What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out. Votes: 0

There is nothing quite so good as burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating. Votes: 0

This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book - it makes a very poor doorstop. Votes: 0

The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book - it makes a very poor doorstop. Votes: 0

I have a feeling that inside you somewhere,there's somebody nobody knows about Votes: 0

There is something more important than logic: imagination Votes: 0

A woman, I always say, should be like a good suspense movie: The more left to the imagination, the more excitement there is. This should be her aim - to create suspense, to let a man discover things about her without her having to tell him. Votes: 0

Drama is life with the dull bits left out. There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. I believe in putting the horror in the minds of the audience, and not necessarily on the screen. The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder. Votes: 0

Mystery is an intellectual process... But suspense is essentially an emotional process. Votes: 0

A glimpse into the world proves that horror is nothing other than reality. Votes: 0

I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened; they revolt me. That round white thing without any holes, and when you break it, inside there’s that yellow thing, round, without any holes… Brrr! Have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I’ve never tasted it. Votes: 0

When you can look forward, and the road is clear ahead, and now you are going to create something - that's as happy as I'd want to be. Votes: 0

People don't always express their inner thoughts to one another; a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person really thinks or feels. Votes: 0

Reality is something that none of us can stand, at any time. Votes: 0

There are several differences between a football game and a revolution. For one thing, a football game usually lasts longer and the participants wear uniforms. Also, there are usually more casualties in a football game. The object of the game is to move a ball past the other team's goal line. This counts as six points. No points are given for lacerations, contusions, or abrasions, but then no points are deducted, either. Kicking is very important in football. In fact, some of the more enthusiastic players even kick the ball, occasionally. Votes: 0

Even my failures make money and become classics a year after I make them. Votes: 0

A woman who spends all day washing and cooking and ironing doesn't want to go to the movies to watch a film about a woman who spends all day washing and cooking and ironing. Votes: 0

Happiness is a small house, with a big kitchen. Votes: 0

Drama is real life with all the boring parts cut out. Votes: 0

Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out? Votes: 0

I don't understand why we have to experiment with film. I think everything should be done on paper. A musician has to do it, a composer. He puts a lot of dots down and beautiful music comes out. And I think that students should be taught to visualize. That's the one thing missing in all this. The one thing that the student has got to do is to learn that there is a rectangle up there - a white rectangle in a theater - and it has to be filled. Votes: 0

This weapon [an ax] is primitive but effective. And it's also guaranteed to be fifty-percent painless. You see, it takes two people to operate, and the person at this end [the handle] doesn't feel a thing. Votes: 0

I try to offset any tendency towards the macabre with humour. As I see it, this is a typically English form of humour. It's a piece with such jokes as the one about the man who was being led to the gallows to be hanged. He looked at the trap door in the gallows, which was flimsily constructed, and he asked in some alarm, 'I say, is that thing safe? Votes: 0

It has been rumored that "Psycho" is so terrifying that it will scare some people speechless. Some of my men hopefully sent their wives to a screening. The women emerged badly shaken but still vigorously vocal. Votes: 0

I'm frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. Votes: 0

All love scenes started on the set are continued in the dressing room. Votes: 0

Someone once told me that every minute a murder occurs, so I don't want to waste your time, I know you want to go back to work. Votes: 0

Ideas come from everything Votes: 0

Our primary function is to create an emotion and our secondary function is to sustain that emotions. Votes: 0

If I won't be myself, who will? Votes: 0

I’ve never been very keen on women who hang their sex round their neck like baubles. I think it should be discovered. It’s more interesting to discover the sex in a woman than it is to have it thrown at you, like a Marilyn Monroe or those types. To me they are rather vulgar and obvious. Votes: 0

I was an uncommonly unattractive young man. Votes: 0

I enjoy playing the audience like a piano. Votes: 0

We seem to have a compulsion these days to bury time capsules in order to give those people living in the next century or so some idea of what we are like. I have prepared one of my own. I have placed some rather large samples of dynamite, gunpowder, and nitroglycerin. My time capsule is set to go off in the year 3000. It will show them what we are really like. Votes: 0

The best actor is the man who can do nothing extremely well.... Votes: 0

Never turn your back on a friend. Votes: 0

Suspense is like a woman. The more left to the imagination, the more the excitement. Votes: 0

I've become a body of films, not a man, I am all those films. Votes: 0

San Francisco would be a good location for a murder mystery. Votes: 0

In the documentary the basic material has been created by God, whereas in the fiction film the director is a God; he must create life. Votes: 0

Seeing a murder on television can help us unload the feelings of hate themselves. If you do not have feelings of hatred, may be obtained in the advertising interval. Votes: 0

Everything's perverted in a different way. Votes: 0

To me Psycho was a big comedy. Had to be. Votes: 0

I'm sure anyone who likes a good crime, provided it is not the victim. Votes: 0

One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes. Votes: 0

I'm a writer and, therefore, automatically a suspicious character. Votes: 0

A woman of mystery is one who also has a certain maturity and whose actions speak louder than words. Any woman can be one, if she keeps those two points in mind. She should grow up-and shut up. Votes: 0

Man does not live by murder alone. He needs affection, approval, encouragement and, occasionally, a hearty meal. Votes: 0

For me, suspense doesn't have any value if it's not balanced by humor. Votes: 0

When accepting the American Film Institute Life Achievement award: I beg permission to mention by name only four people who have given me the most affection, appreciation, and encouragement, and constant collaboration. The first of the four is a film editor, the second is a scriptwriter, the third is the mother of my daughter Pat (Patricia Hitchcock), and the fourth is as fine a cook as ever performed miracles in a domestic kitchen. And their names are Alma Reville. Votes: 0

It seems to me that television is exactly like a gun. Your enjoyment of it is determined by which end of it you're on. Votes: 0

Self-plagarism is style. Votes: 0

It's only a movie, and, after all, we're all grossly overpaid. Votes: 0

Cary Grant is the only actor I ever loved in my whole life. Votes: 0

Kicking is very important in football. In fact, some of the more enthusiastic players even kick the ball, occasionally. Votes: 0

Never judge a country by its politicians. Votes: 0

The Birds could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made. Votes: 0

In reference to the murder scene in 'Dial M for murder' As you have seen on the screen the best way to do it is with a scissor. Votes: 0

I can't read fiction without visualizing every scene. The result is it becomes a series of pictures rather than a book. Votes: 0

The silent pictures were the purest form of cinema Votes: 0

I always try to look at things as though I were remembering them three years later. Votes: 0

I always take the audience into account. Votes: 0

I like stories with lots of psychology. Votes: 0

Really, the novelist has the best casting since he doesn't have to cope with the actors and all the rest. -Alfred Hitchcock Votes: 0

Suspense is like a woman. The more left to the imagination, the more the excitement. ... The conventional big-bosomed blonde is not mysterious. And what could be more obvious than the old black velvet and pearls type? The perfect ‘woman of mystery’ is one who is blonde, subtle and Nordic. ... Although I do not profess to be an authority on women, I fear that the perfect title [for a movie], like the perfect woman is difficult to find. Votes: 0

The picture's over. Now I have to go and put it on film. Votes: 0

That is the most frightening sight I have ever seen. Votes: 0