Joe Gillis

"The illusion is better than the reality. Always."

"We tell ourselves stories to survive this place."

"Madness in Hollywood is just another form of ambition."

"I was broke, and she had money. It was that simple."

"The camera loves certain people. She was one of them."

"Loyalty doesn't exist in this business. Only opportunity."

"You come to California to escape something. Sometimes it catches you anyway."

"She gave me everything except the one thing I really needed: respect."

"The typewriter is your best friend and your worst enemy."

"Time in Hollywood moves differently. Minutes feel like hours, years like days."

"You start out wanting to change the system. The system changes you instead."

"The valley of the dolls. That's what they call this town."

"Some people are born to be stars. I was born to watch them."

"Patience is a virtue nobody in this town can afford."

"You can't help falling in love with the wrong person. It just happens."

"The best films are written by people who have nothing to lose and everything to prove."

"A woman's memory is a funny thing. She remembers what she wants to remember."

"I should have taken the bus back to Ohio when I had the chance."

"The past is a ghost. It haunts you whether you invite it or not."

"Courage is knowing you'll probably fail and doing it anyway."

"Education means nothing out here. Only connections matter."

"Knowledge of the industry is the only currency that matters."

"Freedom is expensive. I couldn't afford it."

"Peace is for people who've already won."

"Nature doesn't care about your failures. The sun rises anyway."

"Art is what you do when you're not thinking about money. I always think about money."

"Science can explain a lot of things, but not why people stay in bad situations."

"Faith is something I stopped having a long time ago."

"A good leader knows when to walk away. I never learned that lesson."

"Work is what you do to survive. Passion is what you do to live."