I am big. It's the pictures that got small.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the grandeur of a person's vision or ideas can be diminished by the limitations imposed by external factors, such as the medium or context.
Billy Wilder's quote, 'I am big. It's the pictures that got small,' reflects the idea that an individual's potential and greatness may be undermined by the constraints of their environment or the perceptions of others. It speaks to the tension between one's true self or capabilities and the restrictions that society or circumstances can impose, particularly in the realm of artistic expression and creativity. Wilder emphasizes the importance of recognizing that greatness is inherent, while sometimes the platforms or formats we use may not do justice to it.
In practice
During a speech about innovation in film, you might use this quote to discuss the challenges creators face.
Film’s thought of as a director’s medium because the director creates the end product that appears on the screen. It’s that stupid auteur theory again, that the director is the author of the film. But what does the director shoot-the telephone book? Writers became much more important when sound came in, but they’ve had to put up a valiant fight to get the credit they deserve.
What critics call dirty in our pictures, they call lusty in foreign films.
I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon.
Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
I'd worship the ground you walked on if only you walked in a better neighborhood.
In writing, I apply my feminine side and respect the mystery involved in creation.
I have said no to many, many Day of the Dead projects in the past, about 10 or 15, because every time I heard a take it was from someone who didn't know the celebration.
If I could be reincarnated as a fashion accessory, it would be a shopping bag.
You have an absolute freedom in Mexican writing today in which you don't necessarily have to deal with the Mexican identity. You know why? Because we have an identity... We know who we are. We know what it means to be a Mexican.
If a novelist tells you something she knows or thinks, and you believe her, that is not because either of you think she is God, but because she is doing her work - as a novelist.
Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. There is the second tasting, the delayed reaction.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.