He was sort of crazy, bipolar, his opinions changed. Read Bogdanovich's interview. He had a taste for the meanne1908ss of justice which you can appreciate or not, depending on where you stand politically. He thought people who were unaware, like K, were fools. He would probably love the EU and understand it. He digged faking art, because he though art a scam sometimes. He really was unpredictable. But he detested Heston's character in Touch of Evil and Cotton's charater in The Third Man. He compared them to McDuff, people wanting to do right but being naive and causing danger to others. So, I think he would stand with Tarantino and De Palma today.
What does it matter what you say about people?
"You couldn't be much further from the truth" -
several

I know I'm in a small minority, and I haven't seen all his films, but honestly I don't care for Welles as a film director. The only one of his directorial efforts that I really like is his
MacBeth
, but that one has more the feeling of a stage production, which in reality was where it had begun the year before. From what I've gleaned of that facet of his career, I think I would have liked his theatrical direction, and I admire his directorial work in radio, but where cameras are involved, I like him better as an actor. I do like him very much as an actor, both as a lead and in smaller character roles.

He's better as an actor or performer.

It's hard to say. I haven't seen enough of his work to make a fair judgment, but I will say that his performance in The Third Man is amazing.

I think he's fine as an actor, though as a director he's better. With
Citizen Kane
he made arguably the most influential sound film ever, and it's kind of hard for any of his other accomplishments to top that.
"[Cinema] is a labyrinth with a treacherous resemblance to reality." - Andrew Sarris

I agree. Hammy is a good word, with a few exceptions. Definitely a better director.

As an Actor he was rather hammy and seemed to give a performance rather than a natural delivery.

It's sort of hard to compare, but I can't choose between him and Stanley Kubrick as my favorite directors, so I guess directing. He's still an all time great actor though.