I don't believe environment has the slightest bit to do with anything - I only believe in ancestral influence. It would have made no difference whether I'd been brought up in a reform school, or on the island of Lesbos. Preston Sturges More Quotes by Preston Sturges More Quotes From Preston Sturges I did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay. It was probably harder for a regular director. He probably had to read the script the night before shooting started. Preston Sturges ukulele night directors When the last dime is gone, I'll sit on the curb outside with a pencil and a ten cent notebook and start the whole thing over again. Preston Sturges dimes notebook gone The most incredible thing about my career is that I had one. Preston Sturges incredibles careers Film is the greatest educational medium the world has ever known. Preston Sturges film educational world A pretty girl is better than a plain one. A leg is better than an arm. A bedroom is better than a living room. An arrival is better that a departure. A birth is better than a death. A chase is better than a chat. A dog is better than a landscape. A kitten is better than a dog. A baby is better than a kitten. A kiss is better than a baby. A pratfall is better than anything. Preston Sturges girl dog baby I should have had the pickle. Preston Sturges pickles should should-have Now I've laid me down to die I pray my neighbors not to pry Too deeply into sins that I Not only cannot here deny But much enjoyed as life flew by. Preston Sturges sin praying life After I saw a couple of pictures put out by my fellow comedy-directors, which seemed to have abandoned the fun in favor of the message, I wrote Sullivan's Travels to satisfy an urge to tell them that they were getting a little too deep-dish, to leave the preaching to the preachers. Preston Sturges couple fun directors You can't go around the theatres handing out cards saying, 'It isn't my fault'. You go onto the next one. Preston Sturges theatre birthday cards For a southern belle, my grandmother was remarkably modern. She threw my grandfather out, for one thing - some kind of argument about bourbon whiskey - shortly after the birth of their third child, and then went back to school to get herself a teaching certificate. Preston Sturges back child grandfather school I go through life accumulating possessions... I've always done it... and then, every once in a while, a sort of tidal wave comes along and washes them all away. Preston Sturges go always done life If war is the solution, why didn't Roosevelt declare war on poverty? Preston Sturges why solution poverty war Theater in which you eat is the oldest form of theater. Preston Sturges eat which you form It was actually the enormous risks I took with my pictures, skating right up to the edge of non-acceptance, that paid off so handsomely. Preston Sturges edge pictures right risks I am, of course, directly descended from Brian Boru, the last king of Ireland, a fact certified by my mother and therefore beyond dispute. But as everybody else with a drop of Irish blood in his carcass is also a guaranteed descendant of the old billy goat, I am not overly arrogant because of this royal strain. Preston Sturges king i-am royal mother Despite my express wish, I was not left in Chicago, but taken to Paris to live, and I did not see my father for many years. But we never stopped loving each other, and in 1940 he died in my arms in Hollywood, where he had come to be near me at the end. Preston Sturges live end me father Our gymnasium was remarkable and had more stuff in it than one could dream up in a nightmare. Furthermore, every boy had to use every piece of it during gymnasium class. Preston Sturges boy more dream class Of the Sturges family, much more is known than is available about poor Irish immigrants and obscure Scottish-English settlers around Rochester. Preston Sturges more immigrants family poor According to my mother, positively no one, least of all herself, had even the faintest suspicion that she was heavy with child at the time of my birth. Preston Sturges she child mother time Paris Singer had vastly more to do with shaping my character than Mother had; although Mother made innumerable sacrifices for me, and Paris Singer made none. I wanted to be like him. Preston Sturges me paris mother character
