Better a street-sweeper in Mexico than a filmmaker in Germany!

So certainly, if we can tell evil stories to make people sick, we can also tell good myths that make them well.

Love is the best, most insidious, most effective instrument of social repression.

As long as movies are depressing, life isn't.

I hope to build a house with my films. Some of them are the cellar, some are the walls, and some are the windows. But I hope in time there will be a house.

The Jews have never been ashamed of being Jews, whereas homosexuals have been stupid enough to be ashamed of their homosexuality.

Every decent director has only one subject, and finally only makes the same film over and over again. My subject is the exploitability of feelings, whoever might be the one exploiting them. It never ends. It's a permanent theme. Whether the state exploits patriotism, or whether in a couple relationship, one partner destroys the other.