- Credit you give yourself is not worth having. Thalberg would not allow his name on his pictures; the one exception being The Good Earth (1937), posthumously.
- [Screenwriter Charles MacArthur, who was a close friend, commenting on why Thalberg never took a producer's credit on his films] Entertainment is Thalberg's god. He's content to serve him without billing.
- [on bringing in director George W. Hill to shoot additional night battle scenes for King Vidor's The Big Parade (1925)] Movies aren't made, they're remade.
- A story never looks as good as when the other fellow buys it.
- If they don't want to come to the picture...you can't stop them.
- [Instruction to the writers of the updated 'Camille', 1936] The problem of a girl's past ruining her marriage doesn't exist anymore. Whores can make good wives. That has been proven.
- Hit a fellow in old clothes with a snowball and it won't mean a thing. But dress a man up in tails and a silk hat and then knock his hat off, and you'll get a laugh.
- [to Louis B. Mayer, regarding Gone with the Wind (1939)] Forget it, Louis. No Civil War picture will make a nickel.
- Novelty is always welcome, but talking pictures are just a fad.
- Movies aren't made, they're re-made.
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