You never have to lie. If you lie, you will only trip yourself up. You will always get caught in a lie. It is very important for an artist not to lie, and most important is not to lie to yourself. There is something we know that’s connected with beauty and truth. There is something ancient. We know that art is about beauty, and therefore it has to be about truth.

The artist always battles [their own] feeling of inadequacy. Self confidence is the biggest barrier to becoming a filmmaker. We are very insecure. People are insecure, not just young people. Everyone is insecure.

They say that Barbara Streisand, when she goes on, she has a panic attack. She feels she can’t sing. Of course, she can sing. I believe that when you write something, when I write something, I turn it over and I don’t look at it. Because I believe the writer, the young writer, has a hormone that makes them hate what they’ve written. And yet, the next morning, when you look at it, you say, “Oh that’s not bad.” But the first second you hate it.

Even the greatest artists have doubts. Can I do it? Filmmaking is such a mammoth effort that you have to be crazy to devote so much time to something you think you might not be any good at. But it is far easier (and less risky) to fail due to lack of faith than it is to fail trying.

Francis Ford Coppola