Alfonso Quotes & Sayings

The American Negro must rebuild his past in order to make his future. Though it is orthodox to think of America as the one country where it is unnecessary to have a past, what is a luxury for the nation as a whole becomes a prime social necessity for the Negro. For him, a group tradition must supply compensation for persecution, and pride of race the antidote for prejudice. History must restore what slavery took away, for it is the social damage of slavery that the present generation must repair and offset. — Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

At present sinners banish the remembrance and thought of death, and thus seek for peace (although they never find it) by leading a life of sin; but when they shall be in the agonies of death, about to enter into eternity, "when distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace, and there will be none," then can they no longer fly from their evil conscience; they will seek peace, but what peace can be found by a soul laden with sins, which sting it like so many vipers? — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

Often to make acts of love towards Jesus Christ. Immediately on waking, and before going to sleep, to make an act of love, seeking always to unite your own will to the will of Jesus Christ. — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

It became the country's official language in the 13th century under the reign of Alfonso X el Sabio (the wise one) as he tried to unify a country that was housing a number of languages, including arabic, hebrew and latin. — Pilar Orti

I have my misgivings about 3-D. I don't like the lack of blacks and whites, how it dulls the image, how the color gets corrupted. I don't necessarily like the experience of having heavy glasses in front of me. — Alfonso Cuaron

The only thing that I am trying to do is to find stories that I like, stories that are meaningful and that can connect and question, since I am not 18 years old anymore. — Alfonso Herrera

TV is all new to me because I came from features. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

I went out to Bali, and I cast all of these supporting roles. I love that stuff. I just love actors. And then, Ryan Murphy asked me to direct second unit for him on Eat Pray Love. I was already booked on something else, but I joined them later. And then, I wrote him a thank you email and I got no response. I was like, "Okay, that's it." We didn't interact much on set either. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

The fun of directing for me, other than working with the actors, is trying to extract those ideas that you have in your head and make them real. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

One of my fun road trips was [when] a group of guys and I rented a tour bus and we started in Orlando and drove all the way around the country going to baseball games. That was an awesome trip because each night we would go to a new baseball stadium, watch a baseball game, get in the bus, wake up [in] the next city, go to another baseball game. We did this for a little while and it was great. We called that trip the Rats on the Bus and it was a fun trip. — Alfonso Ribeiro

The idea is to take the most ordinary things and make them extraordinary, as Gerard Manley Hopkins does in his poems. — Alfonso A. Ossorio

If you want to keep on being relevant as a director, I think you have to embrace the times. And with the times come technologies and formats. — Alfonso Cuaron

I have this thing that, once I finish a movie, I never see it again. — Alfonso Cuaron

During the investigation, he tried a brief defense of his medical practice on the grounds that he had once assisted a vivisectionist in Tampa, Florida; and when this failed, he settled down to sullen grumbling about the Jews, earthly vanity, and quoted bits from Ecclesiastes, Alfonso Liguori, and Pope Pius IX, in answer to any accusatory question. — William Gaddis

We are all winners here. — Alfonso Ribeiro

There are many movies that I like, but I'm not sure if they have inspired me. — Alfonso Herrera

I commit sin everytime I am with you, but it is a happy sin and I am willing to pay for it. — Alfonso P. Santos

Fighting to fit in. Confidence is paper thin. — Tony Alfonso

There are fewer established rules in the way you tell a story for commercials than in features. It's a great little short story you get to play with. — Alfonso Cuaron

It was love, careless of its dignity." Ah, love indeed, when it tries to make itself known, does not seek what is becoming to the dignity of the lover, but what will serve best to declare itself to the object loved. — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

Ryan Murphy just gives new people a shot, and it takes a lot of confidence and generosity to do that. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

But what could have ever induced a God to die as a malefactor upon a cross between two sinners, with such insult to his divine majesty? "Who did this?" asks St.Bernard; he answers, "It was love, careless of its dignity." Ah, love indeed, when it tries to make itself known, does not seek what is becoming to the dignity of the lover, but what will serve best to declare itself to the object loved. St. Francis of Paula therefore had good reason to cry out at the sight of a crucifix, "O love, O love, O love!" And in like manner, when we look upon Jesus on the cross, we should all exclaim, O love, O love, O love! Ah, — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

Once I finish a film, I don't ever see it again. Never ever. I have never seen any of my films since I finished them. — Alfonso Cuaron

Story is important but the most important is the theme and how you're going to convey theme cinematically. I'm a believer also — Alfonso Cuaron

On some kind of unspoken, deep, deep level, I think we [with Ryan Murphy] have an aesthetic that we both understand or connect to. It's not that we see the world in the same way because we have very different points of view, but we're both visual stylists. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

It's seldom that you find great moments in television. Usually you remember - in 'Breaking Bad' or any of these other great shows - you remember situations or characters. Not moments. But I have to say, I can make the same argument for mainstream movies, which have bad narratives and also no memorable moments. — Alfonso Cuaron

In short, so great is God's love for you that He seems to love no one but you. And therefore, you should love no one but Him.* — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

Freedome and responsibility is the same thing. — Alfonso Cuaron

What is your life? It is like a vapor, which is dispersed by a breath of wind, and is no more. — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

I love L.A. I always have such a great time in L.A. The way I kind of define me and L.A. is the noise of the factory doesn't let me sleep well. — Alfonso Cuaron

Furthermore, the Latin American nuclear-weapon free zone which is now nearing completion has become in several respects an example which, notwithstanding the different characteristics of each region, is rich in inspiration. — Alfonso Garcia Robles

I guess I have a short attention span! I'm interested in new worlds, new universes, new challenges. — Alfonso Cuaron

I want to show the richness of even the most disagreeable bits of life. — Alfonso A. Ossorio

I think it's always important to give immediate positive reinforcement. — Alfonso Cuaron

I've been very fortunate in the things I've had in my life. But, at the same time, I wish I had the same types of memories as everyone else. — Alfonso Ribeiro

Sammy Sosa? Everybody knew who Sammy was, paid attention to Sammy. I had already signed in pro ball when he had the great homer year with Mark McGwire in '98. But I followed it, and I was proud of him because he was my countryman. There are a lot of great ballplayers from the Dominican, and he's one of the best. — Alfonso Soriano

If someone already knows you from being in the trenches with you on this TV schedules, and then you have a little bit more time, it's a treat for them, as well, because they can give you more. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

As a director, you're only as good as your collaborators. You surround with collaborators that are going to understand what you're trying to do. Not only that, they're going to push and fight for what you're trying to do. — Alfonso Cuaron

We need the historian and philosopher to give us with trenchant pen, the story of our forefathers, and let our soul and body, with phosphorescent light, brighten the chasm that separates us. We should cling to them just as blood is thicker than water. — Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

You and I have been created with a DNA that drives us to want to live a life with good experiences, forces us to human growth and leads us to the contribution of something beyond our understanding. — Yovanny Alfonso

At some point, you have an opportunity to not be a first-time filmmaker anymore. You can embrace the genre and show the world how you can tell stories on a bigger scale. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Believe nothing others tell you. That is Rule No 1 of life in Astro City.

But what if the ones who set the rules are the ones lying to you?

What if the ones who reprimand the rule-breakers are lying to you?

Who do you believe when there is nobody left to believe? — Lisa Alfonso

I love that process in which there is no safety net. Then the actor also can allow mistakes, because there's no such a thing as a mistake. You're working with good actors, that thing that starts as a mistake becomes actually the life of what is going to follow in the scene. I find that it is fantastic, and for me it is easier than for the actors. — Alfonso Cuaron

The only reason you make a movie is not to make or set out to do a good or a bad movie, it's just to see what you learn for the next one. — Alfonso Cuaron

Dramatically, the moment in 'Gravity' that was hardest to nail down is when Ryan is in the Soyuz capsule and she realizes that she's out of fuel. That's when the character's arc gets defined. — Alfonso Cuaron

Certainly as actors, and maybe as directors, you've got to hang on to something childlike. You've got to know what play is. I haven't worked with Mike Leigh, but I know him very well and there's something open in his eyes about what's in front of him. And the same is true of Alfonso in a Mexican, mad way. There's an enthusiastic response to something. Neil Jordan, the same, when he gets excited . You just want to know there's a human being in there. — Alan Rickman

I don't think Alfonso was a big expert on Potter either. He was feeling his way through it more than I was. — David Thewlis

The two real leads in 'Children of Men' are Clive Owen and the social environment. You know, this same movie without the social environment maybe is just like a generic chase movie. — Alfonso Cuaron

I did a film called The Jesuit, which was an independent film. I did that shortly after Mistresses. I was still feeling soft and I was nursing, but it was a character I'd never played before. That was a Paul Schrader script, with an up-and-coming Mexican director, named Alfonso Ulloa. That has Tim Roth and Paz Vega in it, and I enjoyed that, as well. — Shannyn Sossamon

My mom, she was, she studied chemistry. And later on she changed and majored, she changed later in her career, in her life and studied philosophy and then she did a perfect clash, connection between chemistry and philosophy and she became a witch. — Alfonso Cuaron

We must not therefore consider the afflictions that come upon us as happening by chance or solely from the malice of men; we should be convinced that what happens, happens by the will of God. Apropos of this it is related that two martyrs, Epictetus and Atho, being put to the torture by having their bodies raked with iron hooks and burnt with flaming torches, kept repeating: "Work thy will upon us, O Lord." Arrived at the place of execution, they exclaimed: "Eternal God, be thou blessed in that thy will has been entirely accomplished in us [30] . — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

I did not imagine myself working with Luis Estrada or with the Wachowski Brothers and these are things that have happened to me and I am very satisfied. I hope to keep on finding interesting projects and interesting stories. — Alfonso Herrera

St. John says: "This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith." (1 John 5:4). God has created us simply to labor at our souls' salvation and to become holy. "This is the will of God, your sanctification," says the Apostle. (1 Thess. 4:3). To this end all our efforts must be directed, and faith puts us in a position to overcome all the obstacles which the world opposes to the realization of our object, obstacles such as human respect, the inordinate desires of the flesh, in a word, all the temptations of Hell. — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

I was 8 when we landed on the moon. I was so into the space program as a kid. Eventually, I realized it was very unlikely that a Mexican kid in the early '70s was going to be an astronaut. — Alfonso Cuaron

I like "Training Day" very much. Denzel Washington's performance was spectacular. I also like "The Godfather"and "Kill Bill." I love Tarantino's mind and I believe that "Kill Bill" describes very well his mind and thoughts. — Alfonso Herrera

I've been clawing my way to directing since I was a kid. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

I believe that we have to lift the voice without fear and simply go forward, because in a lot of other occasions, we got tired, we have lowered the arms and simply let everything happen. — Alfonso Herrera

Convince all nuclear powers, including those which have been more reluctant up to now, of the necessity to respect the "vital interests" of all peoples and to become fully aware of the profound truth of the following conclusion which the United Nations approved by unanimity four years ago: "Mankind is confronted with a choice: we must halt the arms race and proceed to disarmament or face annihilation". — Alfonso Garcia Robles

I don't set out to do something weird, but if you see something a certain way and it's a little left of center, and you can realize it, that's a real thrill. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

When you start hanging out with Jennifer Lopez and Bill Clinton, you can't expect to remain an everyday person. — Alfonso Soriano

Then will the poor worldling exclaim: "Alas! my house, my gardens, that elegant furniture, those garments, will soon be no longer mine: the grave alone remaineth for me. — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

Space fascinated me because I'm from the generation that saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon live on TV. I was 7 at the time. Also, 'Lost in Space' was one of my favorite shows on TV back then. — Alfonso Cuaron

When I was a kid, I believed in Santa Claus. But it was very tough because in the Dominican ... there are not a lot of rich people there. — Alfonso Soriano

To me film school was film history because there weren't a lot of books out there that I had access to. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

You can write a whole fiction, and you're talking to people who have gone through that, in real life. But the truth of it is that when you're talking to those people, you don't care about your movie anymore. You just want to hear about what they have gone through. You want all of the details. It's amazing. — Alfonso Cuaron

How impervious to things spiritual, my heart!" cries a St. Bernard. "No savor in pious reading, no pleasure in meditation nor in prayer! — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

I still think that being thrown in a very competitive environment where you really have to see what you are made of - certainly when you come out of nowhere - was good for me. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Father Alfonso and Father Octavio could make Pepe feel as if he were a betrayer of the Catholic faith - as if he were a raving secular humanist, or worse. (Could there be anyone worse, from a Jesuitical perspective?) Father Alfonso and Father Octavio knew their Catholic dogma by rote; while the two priests talked circles around Brother Pepe, and they made Pepe feel inadequate in his belief, they were irreparably doctrinaire. — John Irving

I don't want to change. I haven't done it before, I won't do it now. — Alfonso Soriano

I think it is something that is so important, to be very aware of the direction in which the 21st century is going with all this blind faith in democracy. And by the way, I am not against democracy - I am against the blind faith that is being put in democracy. — Alfonso Cuaron

Technology is technology. Technology doesn't have a, it is not good or bad. Technologies are tools. — Alfonso Cuaron

(...)books, pocket-size jewels, open up like doors to worlds you never knew existed. — Antonio D'Alfonso

Musicals and horror films can be very non-verbal and very pure cinema with movement. The camera is justified in being a character. It can really move and tell a story, and literally direct you to look here or there. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

It's a cliche, but Americans are puritanical. In their movies, they are scared of sex, but they overindulge in violence. I could have cut a G-rated version of 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' that would have pleased the American ratings board, but it would have been five minutes long. — Alfonso Cuaron

I really believe there is the possibility of something great that can happen in the right hands. — Alfonso Cuaron

I love visual stylists like Bob Fosse and Vincente Minnelli and Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger with The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffman. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

When you're doing a film, narrative is your most important tool, but it's a tool to create a cinematographic experience, to create those moments that are beyond narrative, that are almost an abstraction of that moment that hits your psyche. — Alfonso Cuaron

As a director who loves the camera you learn a lot. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

I love Alfonso Cuaron. — Gerard Way

Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. — Alfonso X Of Castile

When you work with kids, people tell you to be very delicate, but that's the last thing you should do with kids. They feel patronized if you're like that. They just want you to be normal. — Alfonso Cuaron

Cautionary tales were fantastic in the '70s. — Alfonso Cuaron

Therefore, as St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, asserts, the archangel Gabriel called her full of grace: "Ave gratia plena;" because whilst to others, as the saint above mentioned remarks, limited grace is given, to Mary it was given in fulness. And thus it was ordered, as St. Basil attests, that in this way she might become the worthy mediatrix between God and men. For if the Virgin had not been full of divine grace, as St. Lawrence Justinian adds, how could she be the ladder of paradise, the advocate of the world, and the true mediatrix between God and men? — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

I used to be very controlling with visuals and editing, and I would pretty much craft the performances; now I have learned to trust the material and the actors. — Alfonso Cuaron

In the Dominican, there are a lot of kids who need help. I just do that for my mom because my mom liked to help a lot of kids in the Dominican. Whoever I am right now is because of her. She gave me the education; she always took care of me like a mommy. — Alfonso Soriano

Hence we should all make St. Augustine's prayer our own: "Lord, here cut, here burn and spare me not, but spare me in eternity! — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

THE whole sanctity and perfection of a soul consists in loving Jesus Christ, our God, our sovereign good, and our Redeemer. Whoever loves me, says Jesus Christ himself, shall be loved by my Eternal Father: My Father loves you because you have loved Me. Some, says St. Francis de Sales, make perfection consist in an austere life; others in prayer; others in frequenting the Sacraments; others in alms-deeds. But they deceive themselves: perfection consists in loving God with our whole heart. — Alfonso Maria De Liguori

As a fine artist I was drawn to composition and technique. I would count the cuts. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

I learned there's an amazing unexplored territory in terms of narrative. Before, I thought the unexplored territory was the form, the way you shoot a movie. Now, I'm learning about the beautiful marriage between form and narrative. — Alfonso Cuaron

Learn from your experience shooting your film, and then move on to the next. — Alfonso Cuaron

I'm a fan of musicals from great masters, and I was able to have an opportunity to express myself in musical numbers with Glee. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

I produce the way I would love to be produced: In ways to create the best conditions to make your movie, but also to create a space in which the director calls the shots. — Alfonso Cuaron

Historically, there is a fight between the sound designer and the composer. You see them in the mixing room and they're always fighting because the composer wants the music to be heard and the sound designer wants the sound to be heard. — Alfonso Cuaron

The modern school without systematic lectures turns out many graduates who lack retention. No sooner has the sound of the word left their teacher's lips, the subject has been forgotten. — Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

I truly enjoy directing. I enjoy looking at the words on the paper and visualizing how to make them come to life. — Alfonso Ribeiro

For me, my films are not like my children. They are like my ex-wife. They gave me so much; I gave them so much; I loved them so much; we part ways, and it's OK, we part ways. — Alfonso Cuaron

'Y Tu Mama Tambien' is one of the first unrated movies to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. But many video stores won't take a movie that's not rated, so I had to make the movie an R. — Alfonso Cuaron

The amazing thing is that the more money it takes for a movie to get made, the more you feel like everybody wants you to fail. — Alfonso Cuaron

It's a great asset to you, on your first film, to bring some people with you from the television world because they understand the speed that you have to work with to get your grand ideas down. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

The positive thing is that today we can realize that a Mexican film it is positioned in the top 5 of the box office during more than one month and that Mexicans are taking into consideration that Mexican films can be enjoyed with the family, instead of going to see Transformers and that our films looks like something that are necessary to support. — Alfonso Herrera