A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant and a bastard.
Billy Wilder

An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation.
Billy Wilder

An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark - that is critical genius.
Billy Wilder

Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also.
Billy Wilder

France is a place where the money falls apart in your hands but you can't tear the toilet paper.
Billy Wilder

France is the country where the money falls apart and you can't tear the toilet paper.
Billy Wilder

Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon.
Billy Wilder

He has Van Gogh's ear for music.
Billy Wilder

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
Billy Wilder

Hollywood didn't kill Marilyn Monroe, it's the Marilyn Monroes who are killing Hollywood.
Billy Wilder


I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
Billy Wilder

I would rather sleep in a bathroom than in another hotel.
Billy Wilder

I'd worship the ground you walked on if only you walked in a better neighborhood.
Billy Wilder

I've met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you're twenty minutes.
Billy Wilder

If there's anything I hate more than being taken seriously, it's being taken too seriously.
Billy Wilder

If you're going to tell people the truth, be funny or they'll kill you.
Billy Wilder

It was hell at the time, but after it was over, it was wonderful.
Billy Wilder

My Aunt Minnie would always be punctual and never hold up production, but who would pay to see my Aunt Minnie?
Billy Wilder

Now, what is it which makes a scene interesting? If you see a man coming through a doorway, it means nothing. If you see him coming through a window - that is at once interesting.
Billy Wilder

One's too many, and a hundred's not enough.
Billy Wilder