What distinguished man from animals was the human capacity for symbolic thought, the capacity which was inseparable from the development of language in which words were not mere signals, but signifiers of something other than themselves. Yet the first symbols were animals. What distinguished men from animals was born of their relationship with them.

Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.

We live in a dominant culture of ceaseless Departure and Progress that has so far lasted two or three centuries.

Directors like Satyajit Ray, Rossellini, Bresson, Buñuel, Forman, Scorsese, and Spike Lee have used non-professional actors precisely in order that the people we see on the screen may be scarcely more explained than reality itself. Professionals, except fo the greatest, usually play not just the necessary role, but an explanation of the role.

Every city has a sex and age which have nothing to do with demography.

Hope is a contraband passed from hand to hand and story to story.

The animal has secrets which, unlike the secrets of caves, mountains, seas are specifically addressed to man.