Put a bird cage near the window so that the bird can see the sky? It’s much better to look than not to, even if it hurts.

Once, I took a taxi. I hate those limousines. They stink and their drivers have been driving dead people to the cemeteries.

I knew there were, in myself, the souls of millions of people who lived centuries ago; not just people but animals, plants, the elements, things, even, matter. All of these exist in me.

I have to shoot without any breaks. I yell at Herzog and hit him. I have to fight for every sequence. I wish Herzog would catch the plague, more than ever.

You leap over the wall of one ghetto and find yourself in another ghetto.

The ultimate acting is to destroy yourself.

Why do I continue making movies? Making movies is better than cleaning toilets.

I am dying of hunger.

Where a beast would have claws, I was born with talent.

It is the Nobel Prize I want. It’s worth $400,000.

What do you think, that a dollar in a savings account is freedom? Maybe you have understood nothing I have said.

The truth is, I can never die. For I will be in everything and see you in everything and watch over you. I am your reaction in the water of a mountain lake.

Why have I had this life? If I knew, I wouldn’t have done it.

One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real.

You have to protect yourself, your body, your being. You cannot treat it badly; you have to keep it, make as sensitive as possible.

Whenever I was with a woman, I always sort of want another one. So there was always another one. I can’t explain this.

About 25 years ago, I was in an apartment, and next door, they put on the radio, so I struck the wall with my fist, but they did not put the radio down. I took a tool and banged until I made a hole through the wall. It was like a comedy movie.

You don’t need a framework. You need a painting, not a frame.

But words – words are not enough!

People who do not see the terrible things therefore do not see the beautiful things, either.

I make movies for money, exclusively for money.

In a way, everything concerning a movie leaves me cold.

It is true what Rimbaud said; If you think a book is strong enough, try it at the ocean, in the wind, at the waves. If the book can resist the ocean, then it exists. Otherwise, throw it away.

The dimensions of my feelings are too violent.

I don’t need anybody to tell me how to be alive.

I am not the Jesus of the official church tolerated by those in power. I am not your superstar.

I sell myself for the highest price. Exactly like a prostitute. There is no difference.

I didn’t choose solitude.

When you are there, you are. With words, you aren’t.

I could be with a woman in a bed, for weeks even, and it would seem to me like three seconds. Or 300 years.

Fun? There is no fun.

Sometimes my heart hurts so much, I beat it with my fists. I try to run. But you cannot run from this. It waits for you. Even when you think you have escaped it, it is there.

I am your fairy tale. Your dream. Your wishes and desires, and I am your thirst and your hunger and your food and your drink.

Put a bird cage near the window so that the bird can see the sky? It’s much better to look than not to, even if it hurts.