25 Remarkable Alfred Hitchcock Quotes

I am a typed director. If I made ‘Cinderella,’ the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.Newsweek (June 11, 1956), Volume 47, Page 106

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.Hitchcock by François Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, ed. 1967), Page 70

I’m a writer and, therefore, automatically a suspicious character.Unknown source

The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.The Book of Hollywood Quotes by Gary Herman (Omnibus Press, ed. 1979), Page 26

Some films are slices of life. Mine are slices of cake.Hitchcock by François Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, ed. 1967), Page 71

A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission, and the babysitter were worth it.Colombo's Hollywood: Wit and Wisdom of the Moviemakers (Collins, ed. 1979), Page 132

A good book does not necessarily make a good film.Hitchcock by François Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, ed. 1985), Page 335

Television is like the invention of indoor plumbing. It didn’t change people’s habits. It just kept them inside the house.NY Journal-American (August 25, 1965)

One of television’s great contributions is that it brought murder back into the home, where it belongs.National Observer (August 15, 1966)

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.Hitchcock by François Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, ed. 1967), Page 163

All actors are cattle.The New Yorker by Leonard Lyons, Washington Post (July 26, 1940); in Hitchcock by François Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, ed. 1967), Page 100

Disney has the best casting. If he doesn’t like an actor he just tears him up.Attributed to Hitchcock in Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion (Grafton, ed. 1988), Page 213

Give them pleasure. The same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.Dialogue on Film: Alfred Hitchcock (American Film Institute, February 1972)

Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.Attributed to Hitchcock in Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion (Charles Scribner's Sons, ed. 1984), Page 513

The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them.Unknown source

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.It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, ed. 2005), Page 4

I am scared easily, here is a list of my adrenaline production: 1. Little children; 2. Policemen; 3. High places; 4. That my next movie will not be as good as the last one.The Films of Alfred Hitchcock, by Robert A. Harris and Michael S. Lasky (Citadel Press, ed. 1976), Page 18

I’m fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn’t make a good suspense film.Unknown source

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.Attributed to Hitchcock in Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion (Charles Scribner's Sons, ed. 1984), Page 513

The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.Hitchcock by François Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, ed. 1967), Page 141

If I won’t be myself, who will?Alfred Hitchcock presents my favorites in suspense (1959)

Self-plagiarism is style.Conversation with Alfred Hitchcock by Arthur Knight (Oui Magazine, February 1973)

Ideas come from everything.Unknown source

Luck is everything… My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person.Unknown source

What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out.Hitchcock by François Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, ed. 1967), Page 71