Honor the extraordinary legacy of Herman J. Mankiewicz on November 7 with these curated quotes, philosophical reflections, and heartfelt tributes celebrating their monumental impact on Academy Award-Winning American Screenwriter & Journalist (Citizen Kane).
“Millions are to be made out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around.”
“In a screenplay, if you can't tell the story through character conflict, all the camera tricks in the world won't save you.”
“Hollywood is the only place in the world where you can freeze to death under a palm tree.”
“A great line of dialogue should cut like a surgeon's scalpel—sharp, clean, and impossible to forget.”
“I am not interested in portraying men as saints or devils; I am interested in showing the wreckage of their vanity.”
“Rosebud is the only thing Charles Foster Kane ever loved that didn't talk back to him or want his money.”
“You cannot capture the entirety of a man's life in a newsreel; you can only trace the shadows he leaves behind.”
“Power isolates a man until his own palace becomes a tomb built of marble and empty statues.”
“Writers are the architects of cinema; directors merely paint the walls.”
“I'd rather be remembered for one masterpiece that shook the world than fifty polite pictures that offended no one.”
