Milos Forman Quotes

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Milos Forman

Profession : Director

Birth : February 18, 1932

I was born in a small town. My parents, my father was a teacher. My mother was a housewife.

Milos Forman

Humor was not important only for me, humor was important for this nation for centuries, to survive, you know.

Milos Forman

Mediocrity never goes away - but neither, I hope, do those who are willing to challenge it.

Milos Forman

I worked with Jack Nitzsche for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' and we'd booked a symphony orchestra. He dismissed them and came with a little man who poured water into glasses of different sizes to make a glass harmonica. And most of the music for the film was that - with some Indian flutes and some drums.

Milos Forman

You either have commercial pressure or ideological pressure. I prefer commercial pressure; otherwise, you can be at the mercy of one or two idiots.

Milos Forman

I tell you, in my opinion, the cornerstone of democracy is free press - that's the cornerstone.

Milos Forman

The worst evil is - and that's the product of censorship - is the self-censorship, because that twists spines, that destroys my character because I have to think something else and say something else, I have to always control myself.

Milos Forman

First of all, whoever didn't want to be a member of this association or the other association, was branded, you know, like a dangerous individualist, you know, infected by the Western decadence, you know. So everybody joined.

Milos Forman

Because if you lived, as I did, several years under Nazi totalitarianism, and then 20 years in communist totalitarianism, you would certainly realize how precious freedom is, and how easy it is to lose your freedom.

Milos Forman

The way one perceives a book and a film are totally different. You read a book in the privacy of your room. You are the boss; you set the pace and rhythm of your reading. In the movie house, you can't do that.

Milos Forman

You think you can do anything, and then you slowly learn how wrong you are.

Milos Forman

And also they were absolutely brilliant in one way, you know: they knew how effective is not to punish somebody who is guilty; what Communist Party members could afford to do was mind-boggling: they could do practically anything they wanted - steal, you know, lie, whatever.

Milos Forman

A modern hero is very ambiguous. I went through some very rough times in Czechoslovakia - the occupation by the Germans at the end of the war. We had people going against their tanks with brooms. Are they nuts, or are they heroes?

Milos Forman

I can say, with a little arrogance, that I could be an actor, a cameraman, a writer, but composers are the most mysterious people.

Milos Forman

I think if I tried very hard, I could do a novel or a play, a poem. I could possibly paint a picture, but I know I can't write music. And still, it is the most accessible of all arts, as you know when you hear a tune.

Milos Forman

First of all, to defend my work, I had to believe that I am doing a totally silly, stupid, innocent comedy.

Milos Forman

It's not a lighthearted decision to change your language, your country, your citizenship, and come to a world where you don't know anybody, to leave a place where you've had opportunities to build friendships from childhood. That's quite a big decision to make.

Milos Forman

People must not think that all bad in man which is unleashed, the moment you impose censorship disappears from man.

Milos Forman

Well, listen, you know, the Czech saying is, you know, when you are drowning you are grabbing even a little twig. That's what all Czechs were doing, grabbing for... with the hope for this little twig.

Milos Forman

If it weren't for 'Cuckoo's Nest,' it would be very difficult for me. It gave me a cushion to live at my artistic pace and not fear I wouldn't have money to live on.

Milos Forman