“When we came up against a block [in screenwriting] and our discussions became very heated and intense, Hitchcock would suddenly stop and tell a story that had nothing to do with the work at hand. At first I was almost outraged. And then I discovered that he did this intentionally. He mistrusted working under pressure. He would say, “We’re pressing, we’re pressing. We’re working too hard. Relax; it will come.” And, of course, it finally always did.”

Hitchcock’s Writing Partner via Cleese