Woody Allen

"Modern moral thought begins and ends (at least in terms of its treatment in American films) with Woody Allen's Manhattan. His writing isn't just persuasive; it cuts like a laser through the gorgeous black-and-white valentine he constructs to the city. His one-take scenes and ingenious tracking shots etch an indelible portrait of a community in slow decay and are no less breathtaking than Renoir's Rules of the Game.

"The final close-up of the man/child Allen, as he hears the sobering news that 'You have to have a little faith in people' from his 17-year-old girlfriend, ranks with the most iconic and heartbreaking endings in cinema history--second only to perhaps that last shot of Chaplin in City Lights. This is not just a movie for New Yorkers or posers or film critics-- it is both a time capsule and an instruction manual for modern man. (Women are free to thumb through it as well, but they always want to tear out the pictures!)

"Manhattan isn't just great, it's the kind of movie that makes you wish you'd made it. No, I'll go further still: Manhattan makes you wish you were a better person."

-- Neil LaBute, filmmaker (In the Company of Men, The Wicker Man)

"Quotes"

As the poet said, 'Only God can make a tree' -- probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.

Eighty percent of success is showing up.

Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it.

His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy.

How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?

How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world, given my waist and shirt size?

I am at two with nature.

I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying.

I tended to place my wife under a pedestal.

I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.

I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.

If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.

If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank.

Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought-- particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things.

It is impossible to experience one's death objectively and still carry a tune.

It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.

It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more.

Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it's all over much too soon.

Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.

Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all.

My education was dismal. I went to a series of schools for mentally disturbed teachers.

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.

On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down.

Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little on office supplies.

Students achieving Oneness will move on to Twoness.

The government is unresponsive to the needs of the little man. Under 5'7", it is impossible to get your congressman on the phone.