Werner Herzog

I see into the hearts of men, and it is a dark, dark forest.

I have seen my share of horrors, but nothing as horrifying as the happy life of the average American.

I am my style.

Life on this earth is a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.

I would travel down to Hell and wrestle a film away from the devil if it was necessary.

The universe is monstrously indifferent to the presence of man.

I have always been a soldier of cinema.

There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylization.

I have a theory that boredom is the vital essence of cinema.

I am not an artist. I am a worker.

I have a very clear idea of what I want. I am not a dictator, but I am the general.

I would never let facts get in the way of a good story.

The biggest danger, in my opinion, is television because it kills our imagination and it kills our ability to have our own images.

I like to be awake. I don't like to sleep very much. Sleep is a waste of time.

We have to articulate ourselves, otherwise we would be cows in the field.

I don't carry a cell phone. I don't have an email address. I am not on Facebook. I am not on Twitter. I am not on Instagram.

I have a very deep suspicion of the written word.

The only way to deal with the abyss is to look at it, to absorb it, and to move on.

I am not a man of the past, I am a man of the present.

I am not a guru. I am not a prophet. I am a filmmaker.