Alfred Hitchcock Quotes

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

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

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

There is something more important than logic: imagination

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.

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.

In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.

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

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.

The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.

Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders.

Mystery is an intellectual process... But suspense is essentially an emotional process.

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

Revenge is sweet and not fattening.

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

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.

Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Puns are the highest form of literature.

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

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.

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

If I won't be myself, who will?

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

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.

Conversation is the enemy of good wine and food.

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

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.

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.'

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.

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.

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

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

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?

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.

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

Ideas come from everything

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.

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

I enjoy playing the audience like a piano.

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.

Never judge a country by its politicians.

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