Ingmar Bergman

When you finish a film, you never want to see it again.

There is something joyous about not talking.

If I didn't have my profession, I think I would be sitting in a nuthouse. But I have been unceasingly at work, and this has been very healthy for me. So I had no need for therapy.

I am normally afraid of birds and have never dreamt of any bird in my life.

On a personal level, there are many people who have meant a great deal to me. My father and mother were certainly of vital importance, not only in themselves but because they created a world for me to revolt against.

People ask what are my intentions with my films - my aims. It is a difficult and dangerous question, and I usually give an evasive answer: I try to tell the truth about the human condition, the truth as I see it. This answer seems to satisfy everyone, but it is not quite correct.

Aging is not uncomplicated. Creativity is an extraordinary help against destructive demons.

Life wasn't about freeing up human souls. It was about creating obedient slaves in the hierarchical construction of the society - with God at the top, then the king and then the father.

My education was very tough.

If I let myself go, nothing will get done.

In 'The Serpent's Egg,' I created a Berlin which no one recognized, not even I.

Sometimes, I probably do mourn the fact that I no longer make films.

There are so many books I want to read. Difficult books. That's what I intend to do and what I'm longing for.

I have a feeling of complete balance. The sea, the house, the loneliness, the light. Everything is clearer. Much more precise. I have the feeling that I am living on a limit, and I'm crossing that limit sometimes.

I have such difficulty calming down - my stomach, my head, reality, everything. That is the reason I live in Faro.

I think that for some time now I have been living with an anxiety which has had no tangible cause. It has been like having a toothache, without the conscientious dentist having been able to find anything wrong with the tooth or with the person as a whole.

When you're as chaotic as I am, you need a very firm structure in your life.

I am forever living in my childhood.

From an early age onward, it was said that 'Ingmar has no sense of humor.'

Now I want to make it plain that 'The Virgin Spring' must be regarded as an aberration. It's touristic, a lousy imitation of Kurosawa.