- The way I see it, my function is to be responsible for everything.
- The difference between me and other producers is that I am interested in the thousands and thousands of details that go into the making of a film. It is the sum total of all these things that either makes a great picture or destroys it.
- I have never gone after honors instead of dollars. But I have understood the relationship between the two.
- Very few people have mastered the art of enjoying their wealth. I have mastered the art, and therefore spend time enjoying myself.
- [some examples of his philosophy] I don't want to be normal. Who wants to be normal?... Once photographed, life here is ended... It's somehow symbolic of Hollywood that Tara was just a facade, with no rooms inside... There might have been good movies if there had been no movie industry.
- I have no middle name... I had an uncle, whom I greatly disliked, who was also named David Selznick, so in order to to avoid any growing confusion between the two of us, I decided to take a middle initial and went through the alphabet to find one that seemed to give me the best punctuation and decided on "O".
- I'm an American and not a Jew.
- There are only two classes: first class and no class.
- Actors used to accept discipline. I've called [John Barrymore] into my office for not knowing his lines; he was contrite and apologetic. I had to speak to Leslie Howard, who was embarrassing Vivien Leigh by not being prepared for a scene. But you never had to speak again. They recognized their fault and corrected it.
- Hollywood's like Egypt, full of crumbling pyramids. It'll just keep on crumbling until finally the wind blows the last studio prop across the sands.
- I like money. I know how to use it, how to appreciate it. Actually, it's an art. The important thing in spending money is to have a true knack for self-indulgence. I don't mean an acquired self-indulgence. I mean the kind that comes naturally.
- The trick in adapting novels is to give the "illusion" of photographing the entire book. This is more difficult than creating an original like A Star Is Born (1937).
- [on why he did not direct] I didn't have time. Frankly, it's easier to criticize another man's work than direct myself. As a producer I can maintain an editorial perspective. I wouldn't have myself as a director.
- [on John Huston's resignation from A Farewell to Arms (1957)] I am the producer and must produce. In Mr. Huston I asked for a first violinist and instead got a soloist. My conception of the producer's role is that it is similar to being the conductor of an orchestra. The conductor oversees every detail and interprets as he sees fit. I am a perfectionist. My sights are set high. But I've found that most people have to be forced into raising their sights.
- [from a letter to Will Hays in October 1939 requesting permission to use the word 'damn' in Rhett's famous speech to Scarlett in "Gone With the Wind"] It is my contention that this word as used in the picture is not an oath or a curse. The worst that could be said against it is that it is a vulgarism, and it is so described in the Oxford English Dictionary.
- There might have been good movies if there had been no movie industry. Hollywood might have become the center of a new human expression if it hadn't been grabbed by a little group of book-keepers and turned into a junk industry.
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