When the Second World War came to an end in Europe, my uncle Sir Alexander Korda was the first filmmaker to reopen offices in Germany and Austria. – Michael Korda
Few things are more painful than being a successful writer born in a small country with an impenetrable language. – Michael Korda
I come from a family that was very strong, very successful, very bizarre, and terrifically exciting. Being a Korda is something I regard as special – not wonderful, or worthy of a national monument, but special. – Michael Korda
When someone has spent a lifetime trying to survive a death sentence, the last thing you want is your children uncovering what you have been at such pains to conceal. – Michael Korda
The real fans do not just admire the star of their choice, they identify with him or her, while the star, unlike Joan Crawford, comes to need the fans’ love, admiration, and constant interest. – Michael Korda
The huge, turgid work of history, sinking under the weight of its own ‘politically correct’ thesis and its foot- and source notes, is not the British way of writing history, and never has been. – Michael Korda
In 1918, Germany suffered the ghastly consequences of defeat; France suffered those of victory, the price of which was to divide and embitter French politics and culture and lead to its defeat in 1940. – Michael Korda
Success was always critical to me. What it meant was winning enough praise and external admiration that I could feel myself to be a logical extension of my Uncle Alex, Uncle Zoli, and my father, in that order. – Michael Korda
Never reveal all of yourself to other people; hold back something in reserve so that people are never quite sure if they really know you. – Michael Korda
It’s one thing to be writing in South or Latin America, where, except for Brazil, every country, however small and hard to find on a map, speaks Spanish, but quite another to be writing in, say, Hungary, a landlocked nation of 10 million people, with a language that very few people outside Hungary can read or speak. – Michael Korda
Of course the rich and famous tend to have more going on in their lives than ordinary people, but they aren’t always willing to tell the interesting bits. – Michael Korda