I was even superior to the Communists and when they didn’t go along with me, I quit them. – Elia Kazan
The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate. – Elia Kazan
To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but is bitter and unforgettable. – Elia Kazan
Acting… was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick? – Elia Kazan
I like directors who come on the set and create something that’s a little dangerous, difficult or unusual. – Elia Kazan
I was taken in by what might be called the Hard Times version of the Communists’ advertising or recruiting technique. – Elia Kazan
Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it. – Elia Kazan
The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don’t dare reveal. – Elia Kazan
I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I’m building something for myself. What I build, I am. – Elia Kazan
I would rather do what I did than crawl in front of a ritualistic Left and lie the way those other comrades did betray my own soul. – Elia Kazan
I have no spy stories to tell, because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest. – Elia Kazan
I was an outsider… but I was also sympathetic with people that were struggling to get up, because I struggled to get up. – Elia Kazan
You can’t just sit there and do the lines. You have to do something revealing or unusual. – Elia Kazan
The belief that the good in American society will finally win out… I don’t believe any more. – Elia Kazan
I wouldn’t go up on a stage now if you paid a thousand dollars for one minute of acting. It’s a nasty experience. You’re up there all by yourself. You’re so damn exposed. – Elia Kazan
There was no doubt that there was a vast organization which was making fools of all the liberals in Hollywood and taking their money, that there was a police state among the Left element in Hollywood and Broadway. – Elia Kazan
The motion pictures I have made and the plays I have chosen to direct represent my convictions. – Elia Kazan
