The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that powerful nations often behave aggressively and coercively, while weaker nations are forced to compromise their integrity for survival.
In this quote, Stanley Kubrick draws a parallel between the dynamics of power in international relations and the stark moral compromises often made by those with less power. The metaphorical comparison indicates that great nations, akin to gangsters, exert their influence ruthlessly to get what they want, while smaller nations, likened to prostitutes, may have to exchange their values or autonomy to secure their safety or benefit from the stronger ones. This commentary sheds light on the often harsh realities of geopolitical interactions and the moral dilemmas that arise from such imbalances.
In practice
In a speech discussing the ethics of international relations.
The reality of the final moment, just before shooting [the scene], is so powerful that all previous analysis must yield before the impressions you receive under these circumstances, and unless you use this feedback to your positive advantage, unless you adjust to it, adapt to it and accept the sometimes terrifying weaknesses it can expose, you can never realize the most out of your film.
Because I direct films, I have to live in a major English-speaking production center. That narrows it down to three places: Los Angeles, New York and London. I like New York, but it's inferior to London as a production center. Hollywood is best, but I don't like living there.
I've never achieved spectacular success with a film. My reputation has grown slowly. I suppose you could say that I'm a successful filmmaker-in that a number of people speak well of me. But none of my films have received unanimously positive reviews, and none have done blockbuster business.
A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.
Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling.
The essence of dramatic form is to let an idea come over people without it being plainly stated. When you say something directly, it's simply not as potent as it is when you allow people to discover it for themselves.
Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil.
Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.
People who are lying are, understandably, more worried about being believed, so they work harder - too hard, as it were - at being believable.
In your big mind, everything has the same value...In your practice you should accept everything as it is, giving to each thing the same respect given to a Buddha. Here there is Buddhahood
The true principle of government is this - make the system compleat in its structure; give a perfect proportion and balance to its parts; and the powers you give it will never affect your security.
Reproach is infinite, and knows no end So voluble a weapon is the tongue; Wounded, we wound; and neither side can fail For every man has equal strength to rail.
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