David O. Selznick Quotes

After 45 years of marriage, when I have an argument with my wife, if we don't agree, we do what she wants. But, when we agree, we do what I want!

As a newly married person, as much as I would love for my husband to buy into the 'my way or the highway' philosophy, you realize it's all about compromising and finding some sort of middle ground that everyone can live with.

We aren't going to agree on everything and there will be other areas where we will be working together.

You have to find a partner when you're making a deal. You cant just say 'I need to make this deal and do whatever it possibly takes to make it.' That's not how it works.

There are very few things in real life on which I agree with Jeremy Clarkson, surprisingly few for people who have to make a TV show together. But that's part of what makes it work.

I been seeing other people work with Belaire like DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, and stuff like that. But other than that, I just wanted to work with them because they showed me mad love and were genuine when we were locking in the deal. For me, it had to make sense and be genuine, and this partnership definitely felt that way.

You're not going to be able to make good decisions without building some relationship of trust between yourself and community.

To tell you the truth although it would put £500 in my pockets to specify my own patent rails, I cannot do so after the experience I have had.

I think one of the worst things people can do is try and fight the people they've agreed to work with.

...the Rule of Agreement reminds you to “respect what your partner has created” and to at least start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you.

In music, as you develop a theme or musical idea, there are many points at which directions must be decided, and at any time I was in the throes of debate with myself, harmonically or melodically, I would turn to Billy Strayhorn. We would talk, and then the whole world would come into focus. The steady hand of his good judgment pointed to the clear way that was fitting for us. He was not, as he was often referred to by many, my alter ego. Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.

It is not always possible to have everything go as one likes. In working with allies, it sometimes happens that they develop opinions of their own

A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence.

If everybody trusts one another, then the person who didn't prevail will faithfully execute the decision as if it was their idea.

With John Wayne, we argued all the time and we made four pictures.

Doubtless you begin to understand how disagreeable it is to me to do a thing arbitrarily, when it is unsatisfactory to others associated with me.

I do not say that all lawyers are bad, but I do maintain that the general tendency is bad: standing up in a court for whichever side has paid you, affecting warmth and conviction, and doing everything you can to win the case, whatever your private opinion may be, will soon dull any fine sense of honour. The mercenary soldier is not a valued creature, but at least he risks his life, whereas these men merely risk their next fee.

There's a level of confidence in the actor you're working with that really helps a lot. It makes all the difference.

Even if we don't agree, we should agree to work together.

A successful marriage is a decision. You decide whether it's going to work, and then you turn around and you've been married 45 years.

What's the difference between yes and no?

Most of the ethical dilemmas that I have faced have all been in the category of, you know, I know something and what's my obligation to disclose it. So, for example, you see people make a mistake in the contract that you're making between the businesses and do you disclose it or do you reveal it? And generally speaking, the way that I solve these is I kind of go through a list of, you know, what's the most, what are the obligations and constituencies and in what order?

Conversation is a partnership, not a relation of master and slave, as most people try to make it.

The cool thing is, when we first did our joint Ring Of Honour-New Japanies Wrestlers, I think that definitely existed. I think the ROH guys were like, "we can't let these New Japan guys outshine us" the new japan guys were ready to make a statement as it was this really big event in America. But the cool thing about this relationship is we've literally become a family now. A lot of us are friends with each. We obviously respect each other.

The biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass.