From 1966:

I am a French filmmaker who has thirty films to shoot in the years to come: some will succeed, others not, and it’s just about all the same to me, as long as I can make them.

I considered that the world, and especially the cinema, was burdened with false gods. My task was to overthrow them. Sword in hand, I was ready to consecrate my life to the task. But the false gods are still there. My perseverance during a half-century of cinema has perhaps helped to topple a few of them. It has likewise helped me to discover that some of the gods were real, and had no need to be toppled.

 —François Truffaut