Ingmar Bergman Quotes
July 14, 1918 – 30 July 2007
More Ingmar Bergman Quotes
I write scripts to serve as skeletons awaiting the flesh and sinew of images.
Ingmar Bergman— The New York Times (22 January 1978)
I don't want to produce a work of art that the public can sit and suck aesthetically…. I want to give them a blow in the small of the back, to scorch their indifference, to startle them out of their complacency.
Ingmar Bergman— As quoted in "Film master Ingmar Bergman dies at 89" by Myrna Oliver in Los Angeles Times (31 July 2007)
Self -portraiture is something one should never get involved in, since it is wrong to lie even though one endeavours to tell the truth .
Ingmar Bergman— "Ingmar's self portrait" (1957) as quoted in "Who is he really?"
I want very much to tell, to talk about, the wholeness inside every human being. It's a strange thing that every human being has a sort of dignity or wholeness in him, and out of that develops relationships to other human beings, tensions, misunderstandings, tenderness, coming in contact, touching and being touched, the cutting off of a contact and what happens then.
Ingmar Bergman— As quoted in Ingmar Bergman Directs (1972) by John Simon
I'm planning, you see, to try to confine myself to the truth. That's hard for an old, inveterate fantasy martyr and [illegible] liar who has never hesitated to give truth the form he felt the occasion demanded.
Ingmar Bergman— On his plans for his autobiography Laterna Magica, as quoted in "Who is he really?"
I hope I never get so old I get religious.
Ingmar Bergman— As quoted in the International Herald Tribune (8 September 1989)
I don't watch my own films very often. I become so jittery and ready to cry... and miserable. I think it's awful.
Ingmar Bergman— BBC article (10 April 2004)
When I was young, I was extremely scared of dying, but now I think it a very, very wise arrangement. It’s like a light that is extinguished. Not very much to make a fuss about.
Ingmar Bergman— As quoted in "Ingmar Bergman, Master Filmmaker, Dies at 89" by Mervyn Rothstein in The New York Times (31 July 2007)
This damned ranting about doom. Is that food for the minds of modern people? Do they really expect us to take them seriously?
Ingmar Bergman— "Jöns" (Gunnar Björnstrand) in The Seventh Seal (1957)
Our social relationships are limited, most of the time, to gossip and criticizing people's behavior. This observation slowly pushed me to isolate from the so-called social life. My days pass by in solitude.
Ingmar Bergman— "Isak Borg" (Victor Sjöström) in Wild Strawberries (1957)
You find him disgusting with his thick mouth and ugly body and wet appealing eyes. You think he's disgusting and you're afraid.
Ingmar Bergman— "Alma" (Bibi Andersson) in Persona (1966)
The demons are innumerable, arrive at the most inappropriate times and create panic and terror... but I have learned that if I can master the negative forces and harness them to my chariot, then they can work to my advantage.... Lilies often grow out of carcasses' arseholes.
Ingmar Bergman— As quoted in "Bergman talks of his dreams and demons in rare interview" by Xan Brooks The Guardian (12 December 2001)
