Ingmar Bergman
Master of existential cinema
Most quoted
"I have lived in this world, and I have loved in this world. And I have suffered in this world. And I have been happy in this world. And I have been unhappy in this world. And I have been afraid in this world. And I have been brave in this world. And I have been cowardly in this world. And I have been good in this world. And I have been bad in this world. And I have been a human being in this world."
— from The Seventh Seal, 1957
"I don't want to produce a work of art that the public can sit and suck aesthetically... I want to give them a blow in the small of the back, to scorch their indifference, to startle them out of their complacency."
"I want to be a good human being, a good artist, and a good craftsman. I want to be a good husband, a good father, a good friend. I want to be a good citizen. But I don't want to be a good Swede."
— from Interview
All quotes by Ingmar Bergman (370)
The human face is the most profound landscape.
Faith is a matter of the heart, not the intellect.
Every man has his own devil, and it's the one that whispers the sweetest lies.
Theatre is the art of the possible; film is the art of the impossible.
I am a man of the cinema, not of the stage, but both are my children.
Life's greatest tragedy is not death, but the fear of it.
In every artist, there is a child screaming to be heard.
Silence between notes is as important as the notes themselves.
We are all actors in the grand theatre of life.
The soul is a dark forest, and film is the light that pierces it.
God is silent, but the world speaks volumes.
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
I have always preferred the reflection of the life to life itself.
The artist's duty is to reveal the hidden truths of the human condition.
In the end, we are all alone, facing the void.
Film is not reality, but a dream about reality.
The greatest enemy of art is the artist's ego.
Life is a series of farewells, each one harder than the last.
I direct with my eyes, not with my words.
The mask we wear is often more real than our face.
Contemporaries of Ingmar Bergman
Other Film & Theaters born within 50 years of Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007).