John Cassavetes

“That's what a movie is, you know. It's a moment. A moment of truth.”

“I'm not a rebel. I'm not a nonconformist. I'm just a guy who wants to do it my own way.”

“If you're not in love, you're not alive.”

“I don't think you should be afraid of looking foolish. It's a part of life.”

“You can't learn to act. You can only learn to be.”

“I have a theory that movies are actually like dreams.”

“I am not an intellectual. I am an emotionalist.”

“The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to.”

“You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.”

“When I'm making a film, I'm the audience.”

“I've never seen an exploding helicopter. I've never seen anybody go and blow somebody's head off. So why should I make films about them?”

“In this country, people are terrified of emotions.”

“My films are about the struggle of men and women to love one another.”

“I believe in the theater. I believe in it as the first magical space, the first sacred space.”

“I hate entertainment. I don't think a filmmaker should be an entertainer. I think he should be a troublemaker.”

“I'm interested in the people that are not noticed.”

“I want to do what I want to do. I don't care what the public wants. I don't care what the critics want.”

“As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all, we must dare to fail.”