There are certain men you could put in the middle of the jungle, and they would come out with a million dollars. It’s an aptitude. It’s a kind of combination of character and personality. If I think of a few guys who made a lot of money, if they lost all their money they would make it again. They are moneymakers. They are abstract thinkers. They’re not held back by being interested in real life. I came out of a movie once with a man who’s made a lot of money, and I said, “You know what’s wrong with that movie?” And he said: “Sure, I know what’s wrong with that movie. That movie cost $22 million. For $22 million I could buy an office building in Chicago.” I think that sums it up.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist

Interview with James Atlas, “What They Look Like to the Rest of Us,” New York Times Magazine (19 Nov 1995)
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