The Czech movies, the quality movies, are trying to show the life in the country as it is, in an entertaining way, while in America, the majority of movies are wonderful fairy tales.

I get out of the taxi and it's probably the only city which in reality looks better than on the postcards, New York.

Well, I wouldn't say that this experience had any influence on my decision to do this film about Andy, because Andy was apolitical. Andy was never political.

So I left with Jean Claude and went to Paris, so when the Russians came to Prague, I was in Paris.

Memories are doing funny things to us.

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

You know what happened, you know, in 1938: France, England, you know, just sold out Czechoslovakia to Hitler.

I'm convinced the Beatles are partly responsible for the fall of Communism.

So, thanks God, our films, our first films were suddenly being appreciated by the Western media; especially France was very good, and Switzerland was very good.

For me, speaking is work. It's not like when you breathe.

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

What avail is honour or a sword against a pen?

I was as terrible at giving compliments as I was at receiving them.

There was no one to blame but the mighty, ruthless stranger. Thus was complexity reduced to demonology, which is a defining feature of anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, or, indeed, any "anti-ism.

There is a reason why all things are as they are.

Regard everything as an experiment.

Two increasing themes which appear to dominate our listening, reading and watching lives are propaganda and 'national security', or manufactured war.

Perhaps she drives men away. Perhaps, without even being able to help herself, she just puts men into her ill-tempered car and drives them off: to quarries, dumps, small anonymous bodies of water.

Intellect is neither practical nor impractical; it is extra-practical.

I think it's hard to talk about the Muslim world and Christian world as blocks.

You've got to be a certain type of person to be a professional fighter. I prefer to do it for pretend.