Joe Gillis

"I'm writing a screenplay about a ball player. A rookie. He makes good, see?"

"The poor dope. He always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got a pool."

"You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big."

"I don't know how to say goodbye. I'm not good at it."

"A man can take so much, and then he can't take any more."

"Success is a peculiar thing. It doesn't come to those who wait."

"Money. That's all anyone ever talks about in this town."

"You think you're going to get out of this, but you're not."

"Hollywood: a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul."

"I was a sucker for a price tag."

"The only way to handle a woman like that is to give her what she wants."

"We're all fading stars in this business. The trick is knowing when to exit."

"A writer without readers is like an actor without an audience."

"I came out here to write. I ended up swimming."

"Love in this town is a commodity, not an emotion."

"You can't escape your past. It has a way of catching up with you."

"Fear keeps you alive. It makes you careful."

"The studio system owns your body and rents your soul."

"I thought I was smarter than the system. I was wrong."

"Every actor wants to be remembered. That's the real addiction."

"You can't buy your way out of everything, though God knows some people try."

"The pictures had changed. The audience had changed. I just didn't know it yet."

"There's always a price for paradise, and it's usually too high."

"A pool, a mansion, a car—but at what cost?"

"Betty was real. This place isn't real. None of it is."

"In the movie business, you're only as good as your last screenplay."

"I wanted to write something meaningful. Instead, I wrote for money."

"The sun sets on everyone eventually, even in Hollywood."

"You need a patron in this town. Someone who believes in you. Or thinks they do."

"Desire is a dangerous thing. It makes you do things you never thought you would."