Quotes from Akira Kurosawa

Granting that there is some truth to the theory that defects in society give rise to the emergence of criminals, I still maintain that those who use this theory as a defense of criminality are overlooking the fact that there are many people in this defective society who survive without resorting to crime. The argument to the contrary is pure sophistry.

Ignorance is a kind of insanity in the human animal.

In other words, take "myself," subtract "movies" and the result is "zero.

Of course, compared to these two illustrious masters, Renoir and Ford, I am no more than a little chick.

This is probably true of human life everywhere - a light exterior hides a dark underside.

As I remember it, the fog-like substance that clouded my brain finally vanished as if blown away by the wind.

But I prefer to think of my brother as a negative strip of film that led to my own development as a positive image.

I had been ready to reproach her for the indignities she had caused me to suffer in the past, but suddenly I was moved by this figure of an old woman I no longer recognized, and all I could do was stare vacantly down at her.

It seems I come from a line that is overly emotional and deficient in reason. People have often praised us as sensitive and generous, but we appear to me to have a measure of sentimentality and absurdity in our blood.

People who can't make the simple distinction between what tastes good or bad have disqualified themselves from the human race," was one of his pet theories.

It is the power of memory that gives rise to the power of imagination.

Man is a genius when he is dreaming.

The Japanese see self-assertion as immoral and self- sacrifice as the sensible course to take in life.

I can't afford to hate anyone. I don't have that kind of time.

Movie directors, or should I say people who create things, are very greedy and they can never be satisfied... That's why they can keep on working. I've been able to work for so long because I think next time, I'll make something good.

In a mad world, only the mad are sane.

I suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why can't people be happier together?

Man is a genius when he dreams. Dream what you are capable of. The harder you dream it, the sooner it will come true.

There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.

For me, filmmaking combines everything. That's the reason I've made cinema my life's work. In films, painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.

To be an artist means never to avert one's eyes.