Sunset Boulevard

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

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

"We tell ourselves stories to survive this place."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I was a sucker for a price tag."

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

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

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

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

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