“One cannot live without motives. I have no motives left, and I am living.”

Source: Wuthering Heights

Letter Accepting 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prizefrom (2018)
Context: I am not hopeless nor have I lost my motivation. We cannot stop trying. I still hope and deeply believe that the tireless efforts of our civil society activists will eventually bear fruit. I am awaiting the moment I can rejoin my colleagues in these activities once I am released. The path to democracy in Iran lies not through violence, war, or military action by a foreign government, but through organizing and strengthening civil society institutions. The government knows this only too well. It is fearful of non-governmental civil society organizations precisely because of its undemocratic nature.

Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSN2234080420080422 (April 22, 2008)

“Maybe,” I thought, “only one of them is real.”
The Power of Now (1997)

Source: "Die Menschen können nicht ohne Hoffnung leben" (one of his last interviews), Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung (February 11, 2002)

Letter to John Adams (10 June 1815)
1810s

Encountering Directors interview (1969)
Context: It's very difficult to explain what I do. It is much more instinctive than you realize; much, much more. … the reasons that make me interested in a subject are, how shall I say, fickle. Many times I have chosen, among three stories, one for reasons that are entirely accidental: I get up and think this one will be stupendous because the night before I had a certain dream. Or perhaps I put it better by saying that I had found inside myself reasons why this particular story seems more valid. … I always have motives, but I forget them.

Source: I do not remember much, I just know I did not even think that after 25 years from that day, I still have the motivation to practice and fight. https://www.iribnews.ir/00DSMD IRIB News, (August 31, 2021)