Fritz Lang : It's logical and the illogical borrows from the logical. Your Corneille said it in his preface to "Surena."

Fritz Lang : Producers are something I can easily do without.

Fritz Lang : Homer's world is a real world. And the poet belonged to a civilization that grew in harmony, not in opposition, with nature. And the beauty of "The Odyssey" lies precisely in this belief in reality as it is. Paul Javal : Thus in reality as it appears objectively. Fritz Lang : Exactly - and in a form that cannot be broken down and is what it is. Take it or leave it.

Fritz Lang : "Each morning, to earn my bread, I go to the market where lies are sold and, hopefully, I get in line with the other sellers." Camille Javal : What's that? Fritz Lang : Hollywood. From a ballad by poor B.B. Paul Javal : Bertolt Brecht? Fritz Lang : Mmm hmm.

Paul Javal : I'd like you to meet my wife, Camille. Fritz Lang, Camille. Camille Javal : Hello, sir. Paul Javal : He's the one who did that western with Dietrich. Camille Javal : It was terrific! Fritz Lang : I prefer "M". Camille Javal : Your "M"? Fritz Lang : Yes. Camille Javal : We just saw it on TV. I really liked it.

Paul Javal : What shot are you doing? Fritz Lang : Ulysses' gaze when he first sees his homeland again. Paul Javal : Ithaca. [Lang nods his head in agreement] 

Fritz Lang : What will you do? Paul Javal : Go back to Rome, finish my play. And you? Fritz Lang : I'll finish the film. Always finish what you start.

Paul Javal : Ulysses doesn't rush home to Ithaca, because he was unhappy with Penelope even before he went off. Had he been happy, he'd have stayed home. He used the Trojan war to get away from his wife. Fritz Lang : He killed her suitors, didn't he? Paul Javal : That can be justified by the fact that Ulysses had told Penelope to give in and accept the gifts. He didn't see the suitors as serious threats. He didn't throw them out, to avoid a scandal. Knowing Penelope to be faithful, he told her to be nice to the suitors. I think that's when Penelope, who at heart is a simple woman, began to despise him. She stopped loving Ulysses because of his conduct and she told him so. Ulysses then realized too late he'd lost Penelope's love because he'd been overly cautious. The only way to win her back was to murder the suitors. Fritz Lang : Death is no resolution.

Francesca Vanini : [Translating Lang's German]  "But Man, when he must, can stand fearless and along before God. His candor is his shield. He needs neither arms nor wile, until such time as God's absence helps him." Fritz Lang : Very good. Francesca Vanini : That's Hölderlin, isn't it, Mr. Lang? Fritz Lang : Yes. "The Poet's Vocation." The final line is obscure. Hölderlin originally wrote [speaking in German]  Francesca Vanini : [Translating]  "So long as God is not absent." Fritz Lang : And then [speaking in German]  Francesca Vanini : "So long as God is close to us." Fritz Lang : Yes. The way the last lines are written, when you've read the other two, is no longer about God's presence. It's God's absence that reassures Man. Strange, but true.

Jerry Prokosch : I like gods. I like them very much. I know exactly how they feel - exactly. Fritz Lang : Jerry, don't forget. The gods have not created man. Man has created gods.

Jerry Prokosch : Whenever I hear the word "culture," I bring out my checkbook. [to his assistant]  Jerry Prokosch : Come here. [he places his checkbook on his assistant's back and writes out a check]  Fritz Lang : Some years ago - some horrible years ago - the Nazis used to take out a pistol instead of a checkbook.

Fritz Lang : One must suffer. Paul Javal : That's for sure.

Fritz Lang : "Think of the seed of your creation. You were not born to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge." Know it? Paul Javal : Sure, it's very famous. Dante. Fritz Lang : Yes. Paul Javal : "Night then saw all the stars. We were filled with gladness, which soon turned to tears, until the sea closed in upon us."

[after viewing film shot by Fritz Lang]  Jerry Prokosch : You've cheated me, Fritz. That's not what is in that script. Fritz Lang : It is! [he pulls the script away from Jerry, who is attempting to grab it out of his hand]  Fritz Lang : Oh, no! Jerry Prokosch : Get the script, Francesca. [he reads the script and then changes his tone]  Jerry Prokosch : Yes, it's in the script. But it's not what you have on that screen. Fritz Lang : Naturally, because in the script it is written, and on the screen it's pictures. Motion picture, it's called.

Paul Javal : It looks swell. I really like CinemaScope. Fritz Lang : It wasn't made for people. It's only good for snakes - and funerals.