Ben Hecht's Quotes

Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat.

I know that a man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they are both looking for alms from me, the rich man for the alms of my envy, the poor man for the alms of my guilt.

Love is a hole in the heart.

Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.

A man nearly always loves for other reasons than he thinks. A lover is apt to be as full of secrets from himself as is the object of his love from him.

In Hollywood, a starlet is the name for any woman under thirty who is not actively employed in a brothel.

The rule in the art world is: you cater to the masses or you kowtow to the elite; you can't have both.

There's only one law you gotta follow to keep outta trouble. Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doin' it.

Chicago is a sort of journalistic Yellowstone Park, offering haven to a last herd of fantastic bravos.

Hollywood held this double lure for me, tremendous sums of money for work that required no more effort than a game of pinochle.

I have written a raucous valentine to a poet's dream and agony.

I'm a Hollywood writer, so I put on my sports jacket and take off my brain.

In moderating, not satisfying desires, lies peace.

Listen, little boy. In this business, there's only one law you gotta follow to keep outta trouble. Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doin' it.

People's sex habits are as well known in Hollywood as their political opinions, and much less criticized.

Prejudice is a raft onto which the shipwrecked mind clambers and paddles to safety.

Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.

I discovered early in my movie work that a movie is never any better than the stupidest man connected with it. There are times when this distinction may be given to the writer or director. Most often it belongs to the producer.