The more realistic you are the more you threaten the grounds of your own art.

I pretended not to understand. One of life's hardest jobs, to make a quick understanding slow. I think I succeeded, thought Herzog.

I am deeply moved when I write. I get turned on by it. I've never used any drugs for stimulation. I don't use words loosely. When I'm working and the right word comes, there is an answering resonance within me. There is also a hardness of intention that goes with it. There is no idleness in it.

My face too blind, my mind too limited, my instincts too narrow. But this intensity, doesn't it mean anything?

I want to tell you, don't marry suffering. Some people do. They get married to it, and sleep and eat together, just as husband and wife. If they go with joy they think it's adultery.

One thought-murder a day keeps the psychiatrist away.

... a fellow can't predict what he will pick up in the form of influence.