Quotes from Frederick Wiseman

Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts.

I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at.

I don't like to read novels where the novelist tells me what to think about the situation and the characters. I prefer to discover for myself.

My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life.

Documentary filmmaking ruins you for real life, because you learn to be extremely attentive.

I'm drawn to making movies about contemporary life. The reason I choose institutions is because they provide a limit, a boundary.

I do not think that my films or films by any other filmmaker represent "THE TRUTH." I do not feel the need to categorize my films or anyone else's.

I'm very careful of not being critical of other people's movies, which work in different styles. I think some of my movies can be interpreted as critical of their subjects.

You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds are the same. Every aspect of filmmaking requires choice. The selection of the subject, the shooting, editing and length are all aspects of choice.