Sidney Lumet Quotes

“All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen.”

“Don't let the difficulty of actually achieving a shot make you think that the shot is good.”

“For any director with a little lucidity, masterpieces are films that come to you by accident.”

“There's no such thing as a small part. There are just small actors.”

“All good work requires self-revelation.”

“Everything becomes creative if the person doing the job is.”

“Good style, to me, is unseen style.”

“In drama, the characters should determine the story. In melodrama, the story determines the characters.”

“The word ‘actress' or ‘authoress' always struck me as condescending. A doctor's a doctor, right? So I've always referred to ‘actors' and ‘writers,' regardless of their sex.”