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I think it's better to be overly ambitious and fail than to be underambitious and succeed in a mundane way. I have been very fortunate. I failed upward in my life!

Francis Ford Coppola

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Francis Ford Coppola
Age: 85
Born: 1939
Born: April 7
Actor
Composer
Executive Producer
Film Director
Film Editor
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Winegrower
Writer
Detroit
Michigan
Better
Upward
Way
Mundane
Think
Ambitious
Thinking
Failed
Life
Fortunate
Fail
Succeed
Failing
Overly

More quotes by Francis Ford Coppola

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When you make a film it is like asking yourself a question. When it is finished, you know the answer. Ultimately with all of cinema, we are just trying to learn about ourselves. I have always used the opportunity to make a film to learn more about myself, which I am still doing.
Francis Ford Coppola
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The professional world was much more unpleasant than I thought. I was always wishing I could get back that enthusiasm I had when I was doing shows at college.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Usually, the stuff that's your best idea or work is going to be attacked the most.
Francis Ford Coppola
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So much of the art of film is to do less. To aspire to do less.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Wine is so much more than a beverage. It's a romance, a story, a drama-all of those things that are basically putting on a show.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Whom God wishes to destroy, He first makes successful in show business.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.
Francis Ford Coppola
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I had an older brother who was very interested in literature, so I had an early exposure to literature, and and theater. My father sometimes would work in musical comedies.
Francis Ford Coppola
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I always found the film world unpleasant. It's all about the schedule, and never really flew for me.
Francis Ford Coppola
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I landed a job with Roger Corman. The job was to write the English dialogue for a Russian science fiction picture. I didn't speak any Russian. He didn't care whether I could understand what they were saying he wanted me to make up dialogue.
Francis Ford Coppola
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The essence of cinema is editing.
Francis Ford Coppola
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We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Always make your work be personal. And, you never have to lie... There is something we know that's connected with beauty and truth. There is something ancient. We know that art is about beauty, and therefore it has to be about truth.
Francis Ford Coppola
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I was a pretty shy, lonely kid. I blossomed about age 17, when I went to college.
Francis Ford Coppola
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If I have to be remembered for something, I want it remembered that I really liked children and was a good camp counselor.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Listen, if there's one sure-fire rule that I have learned in this business, it's that I don't know anything about human nature.
Francis Ford Coppola
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I had been a kid that moved so much, I didn’t have a lot of friends. Theater really represented that kind of camaraderie.
Francis Ford Coppola
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In a sense, I think a movie is really a little like a question and when you make it, that's when you get the answer.
Francis Ford Coppola
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When I do a novel, I don't really use the script, I use the book when I did Apocalypse Now, I used Heart of Darkness. Novels usually have so much rich material.
Francis Ford Coppola
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When I was about 9, I had polio, and people were very frightened for their children, so you tended to be isolated. I was paralyzed for a while, so I watched television.
Francis Ford Coppola