Quotes by Mike Nichols

“Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth.”

“The only safe thing is to take a chance.”

“I was just trying to make a nice little movie,”

“It wasnt until when I saw it all put together that I realized this was something remarkable.”

“Anne Bancroft was a great actress, and as a human being, wife, mother (and) friend, she was unique,”

“Her combination of brains, humor, frankness and sense were unlike any other artist. Her beauty was constantly shifting with her roles, and because she was a consummate actress, she changed radically for every part.”

“Weve all heard those fatal words in a relationship where someone says, Just tell me. I promise I wont be mad. I just want the answer, ... Clive Owen asks his wife that question in Closer, but he really doesnt want the answer because its just a slide into great pain.”

“Nerves provide me with energy... Its when I dont have them, when I feel at ease, that I get worried.”

“Five years ago, I would have been hesitant to make this transition. But now the technology is definitely ready.”

“What weve offered is a house where they could all live.”

I spend my money...I dont know on what.

Nerves provide me with energy.... Its when I dont have them when I feel at ease that I get worried.

Nerves provide me with energy. ... Its when I dont have them when I feel at ease that I get worried.

I think the main thing about comedy and humor is that its impossible and always was impossible to define.

When we talk about reviews, what we are really talking about is just a market report - its like reading about the new Lexus. You have to know what the guy writing the review cares about to understand his take. Does he like sports cars, or does he like Bentleys?

My first memory in the world is my gym teacher ripping my mothers necklace off her neck and throwing it out the window and her running downstairs to go after it. I have no memory before that. I was 4. My father had a lot of girlfriends and my mother had a lot of boyfriends.

You can always tell gifted and highly intelligent people as they always turn to the past. Any young person who knows anything that happened before 1980, or 1990, or 2000 for that matter, is immediately someone who is intelligent, probably creative, maybe a writer. Nobody who is drawn to the past and learning about the past is not gifted.

I was standing right behind Marilyn, completely invisible, when she sang Happy birthday, Mr. President. And indeed, the corny thing happened: Her dress split for my benefit, and there was Marilyn, and yes, indeed, she didnt wear any underwear.

The greatest thrill is that moment when a thousand people are sitting in the dark, looking at the same scene, and they are all apprehending something that has not been spoken. Thats the thrill of it, the miracle - thats what holds us to movies forever. Its what we wish we could do in real life.

I am drawn to the mystery of marriage. You can never know what the contract is between two people, and that is a very strong subject. I think it may be my subject.