
“If you want to do a film, steal a camera, steal raw stock, sneak into a lab and do it!”
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)
D.J. Gould, "Patrons and Clients: The Role of the Military in Zaire Politics," in Isaac Mowoe, ed., The Performance of Soldiers as Governors, p. 485
“If you want to do a film, steal a camera, steal raw stock, sneak into a lab and do it!”
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)
UTI interview (2004)
Context: The law about what is stealing is very clear. Stealing is taking something away from someone so they cannot use it. There’s no way that making a copy of something is stealing under that definition.
If you make a copy of something, you’ll be prosecuted for copyright infringement or something similar — not larceny (the legal term for stealing). Stealing, like piracy and intellectual property, is another one of those terms cooked up to make us think of intellectual works the same way we think of physical items. But the two are very different.
You can’t just punish people because they took away a “potential sale”. Earthquakes take away potential sales, as do libraries and rental stores and negative reviews. Competitors also take away potential sales.
“To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal
If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel.”
"Mysterious Ways"
Lyrics, Achtung Baby (1991)
Context: Johnny, take a dive with your sister in the rain
Let her talk about the things you can't explain
To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal
If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel.
On your knees, boy.
“Security wants to know you're a player. Otherwise, you'd steal. Boomzilla understands that.”
Source: Bridge trilogy, All Tomorrow's Parties (1999), Chapter 37, "A Little Shit Money"