Quotes from Lars von Trier

When I was younger, I was fascinated by David Bowie, for example. he had created an entire myth around himself. It was as important as his music.

I am a man who likes to control things, and if I can't control them totally I will not control them at all.

I like gardening. I'm really a nature man. I spend as much time as I can in nature. I feel really safe there.

When I show a film at a festival, I am showing myself. Everything is at stake for me.

You know, I really do have some morals. I do actually care about people. And I do have a political standpoint.

Only a fool does not fear actors, but you can't beat them, and if you can't beat them, join them, as they say. As I've got older I've become very interested in that part of the work.

I had an almost fetishistic attraction to film technology.

Perhaps the only difference between me and other people is that I've always demanded more from the sunset. More spectacular colors when the sun hit the horizon. That's perhaps my only sin.

Nature is Satan's church.

Every word removed from the language is another brick removed from the wall of democracy.

Meine Frau gehört zu den wenigen Dingen des Lebens, vor denen ich mich nicht fürchte.

We elevate those who say right but mean wrong, and mock those who say wrong but mean right.

My films are about ideals that clash with the world. Every time it's a man in the lead, they have forgotten about the ideals. And every time it's a woman in the lead, they take the ideals all the way.

And I understood that everything that used to be beautiful about Eden was perhaps hideous.

Far be it from me to force anyone into either chess or dressage, but if you choose to do so yourself, in my opinion there is only one way: follow the rules.

Only a fool does not fear actors, but you can't beat them, and if you can't beat them, join them, as they say. As I've got older I've become very interested in that part of the work

You could say that when you introduce humour to your work, you also step back a little from it. You create a distance

I'm happy that I'm alive. I feel like someone coming back from Vietnam, you know; I'm sure that later on I'll start killing people in a square somewhere, but right now, I just feel happy to be alive.

It's always been a lie that it's difficult to make films.