Quotes from book
Something Like an Autobiography

Name: Something Like an Autobiography
Author: Akira Kurosawa

Something Like an Autobiography is the memoir of Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. It was published as a book in 1981 and the English translation by Audie E. Bock appeared the following year.

“Ignorance is a kind of insanity in the human animal. People who delight in torturing defenseless children or tiny creatures are in reality insane. The terrible thing is that people who are madmen in private may wear a totally bland and innocent expression in public.”

Akira Kurosawa book Something Like an Autobiography

Akira Kurosawa 'Something Like an Autobiography (1981)
Something Like an Autobiography (1981)

“No matter where I go in the world, although I can't speak any foreign language, I don't feel out of place. I think of the earth as my home. If everyone thought this way, people might notice just how foolish international friction is, and they would put an end to it. We are, after all, at a point where it is almost narrow-minded to think merely in geocentric terms. Human beings have launched satellites into outer space, and yet they still grovel on earth looking at their own feet like wild dogs. What is to become of our planet?”

Akira Kurosawa book Something Like an Autobiography

Something Like an Autobiography (1981)

“Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people.”

Akira Kurosawa book Something Like an Autobiography

Something Like an Autobiography (1981)
Context: Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.

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

Akira Kurosawa book Something Like an Autobiography