Hide the ideas, but so that people find them. The most important will be the most hidden.

Let nothing be changed and all be different.

The things one can express with the hand, with the head, with the shoulders!... How many useless and encumbering words then disappear! What economy!

Prefer what intuition whispers in your ear to what you have done and redone ten times in your head.

My movie is born first in my head, dies on paper; is resuscitated by the living persons and real objects I use, which are killed on film but, placed in a certain order and projected on to a screen, come to life again like flowers in water.

The point is not to direct someone, but to direct oneself.

The ear is profound, whereas the eye is frivolous, too easily satisfied. The ear is active, imaginative, whereas the eye is passive. When you hear a noise at night, instantly you imagine its cause. The sound of a train whistle conjures up the whole station. The eye can perceive only what is presented to it.