Famous Federico Fellini Quotes
“There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.”
Fellini on Fellini (1976) edited by Anna Keel and Christian Strich; translated by Isabel Quigly.
Variant: There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the passion of life.
“Experience is what you get while looking for something else.”
"Experience"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
Federico Fellini Quotes
"Artistic Freedom"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
Context: I don't believe in total freedom for the artist. Left on his own, free to do anything he likes, the artist ends up doing nothing at all. If there's one thing that's dangerous for an artist, it's precisely this question of total freedom, waiting for inspiration and the rest of it.
Variant: Put yourself into life and never lose your openness, your childish enthusiasm throughout the journey that is life, and things will come your way.
Source: La Dolce Vita: Federico Fellini's Masterpiece
Source: La Dolce Vita: Federico Fellini's Masterpiece
“All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.”
On the autobiographical nature of his films, in The Atlantic (December 1965)
“Art is all about craftsmanship.”
"Craftsmanship"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
Context: I discovered that what's really important for a creator isn't what we vaguely define as inspiration or even what it is we want to say, recall, regret, or rebel against. No, what's important is the way we say it. Art is all about craftsmanship. Others can interpret craftsmanship as style if they wish. Style is what unites memory or recollection, ideology, sentiment, nostalgia, presentiment, to the way we express all that. It's not what we say but how we say it that matters.
As quoted in Rolling Stone no. 421 (1984)
Context: Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second and you can hop from one place to another. It’s a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.
"Every Time We Say Goodbye" in Sight and Sound [London] ( June 1991)
Context: What is an artist? A provincial who finds himself somewhere between a physical reality and a metaphysical one... It’s this in-between that I’m calling a province, this frontier country between the tangible world and the intangible one — which is really the realm of the artist.
“Everyone knows that time is Death, that Death hides in clocks.”
Imposing another time powered by the Clock of the Imagination, however, can refuse his law. Here, freed of the Grim Reaper's scythe, we learn that pain is knowledge and all knowledge pain.
"Death"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
“If I'm a cruel satirist at least I'm not a hyprocrite: I never judge what other people do.”
"Hypocrisy"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
Context: If I'm a cruel satirist at least I'm not a hyprocrite: I never judge what other people do. Neither a politician nor a priest, I never censor what others do. Neither a philospher nor a psychiatrist, I never bother trying to analyze or resolve my fears and neuroses.
“Even if I set out to make a film about a fillet of sole, it would be about me.”
On the autobiographical nature of his films, in The Atlantic (December 1965)
"Younger Generation"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
“Money is everywhere but so is poetry. What we lack are the poets.”
"Poets"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
“It's easier to be faithful to a restaurant than it is to a woman.”
"Fidelity"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
"Decline of Cinema"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
“A created thing is never invented and it is never true: it is always and ever itself.”
"Creation"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
"Film Critics"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
“God may not play dice but he enjoys a good round of Trivial Pursuit every now and again.”
"God"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
“A good opening and a good ending make for a good film provided they come close together.”
"Recipe for a Good Film"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
"Genius"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
As quoted in in The Atlantic (December 1965)
