Jean Luc Quotes & Sayings

Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second. — Jean-Luc Godard

I called the great French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and I said 'So, who's the new cat? Who's got the stuff? And he said Zach Brock. — Stanley Clarke

Post-adolescent Expert Syndrome
The tendency of young people around the age of eighteen, males especially, to become altruistic experts on everything, a state of mind required by nature to ensure warriors who are willing to die with pleasure on the battlefield. Also the reason why religions recruit kamikaze pilots and suicide bombers almost exclusively from the 18-21 range. Kyle, I never would have guessed that when you were up in your bedroom playing World of Warcraft all through your teens, you were, in fact, becoming an expert on the films of Jean-Luc Godard. — Douglas Coupland

My father's really fluent in French, but I can't speak at all. I actually took it twice in school already and failed both times! — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

When we talked, I talked about me, you talked about you, when we should have talked about each other. — Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard said that cinema is the truth 24 frames a second. I think cinema is lies 24 frames a second. — Stanley Donen

Truth is in all things, even partly, in error. — Jean-Luc Godard

Nah. I got it. Just try not to stake Jean-Luc again if you meet up with him. (Acheron)
I can't help it. All you fanged people look alike in the dark. (Tabitha)
Yeah. I know what you mean. All you soul-full people look alike to us, too. (Acheron) — Sherrilyn Kenyon

I like to go out if there's a party or go to the movies, but I just like hanging out with my buddies and having a good time. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

One can enjoy existence, not life. — Jean-Luc Godard

Evil is in the existent as its innermost possibility of refusing existence — Jean-Luc Nancy

Americans have no past, so they buy the pasts of others. — Jean-Luc Godard

To be or not to be. That's not really a question. — Jean-Luc Godard

A breeze wafted over her face, and she realized she was in the parking lot next to Jean-Luc's BMW. She must have — Kerrelyn Sparks

What is your greatest ambition in life?'
'To become immortal ... and then die. — Jean-Luc Godard

My fav band is Rush. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

I don't know if I am free because I am happy or happy because I am free. — Jean-Luc Godard

Yes," Bernarde quipped, "Deal with me, Jean Luc. Come and dance with the night, brother. Let us battle 'till the sun turns us to ash. — Katerina Martinez

I had the feeling that Sarajevo was the perfect place to shoot the film I wanted to shoot. It is the perfect illustration of purgatory. — Jean-Luc Godard

You don't make a movie, the movie makes you. — Jean-Luc Godard

I try to make the best of everything. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

The world isn't a sad place, it's just big. — Jean-Luc Godard

I am a painter with letters. I want to restore everything, mix everything up and say everything. — Jean-Luc Godard

Good films get smaller audiences, but more of the viewer. — Jean-Luc Godard

I don't watch that much TV. I think I should probably watch a little bit more, but I love the ABC Family shows. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

If Captain Jean-Luc Picard asked you to serve him aboard the starship Enterprise, you'd likely be happy to. You would recognise him as a great leader and a good man, and so you wouldn't have any problem following his orders. This is basically the relationship God wants with us - not slaves, not pets, not possessions, we would be co-workers and friends. — Lewis N. Roe

Without taking chances, you'll never be happy. — Sara Claridge

Communism existed once, during two 45 minute half-times, when Honved, from Budapest, won over England by 6-3. The English played individually, and the Hungarians, collectively. — Jean-Luc Godard

Well, make up your mind. I don't have all night." Fidelia set her beer on the porch and removed a set of keys from her skirt pocket. She fumbled with the key, trying to release the trigger lock on her pistol.
"Don't do that," Heather warned her. "You've had too much to drink."
Fidelia snorted. "I'm not drunk. I'm in complete control." She tore off the trigger lock.
Bang! The gun fired, ripping into a nearby oak tree.
The women screamed. Jean-Luc winced.
A squirrel plummeted from the tree and landed in the yard with a thud.
Fidelia shrugged. "I meant to do that. Damned rodent's been gnawing on the house. And stealing all the nuts from our pecan tree."
Heather planted her hands on her hips. "Haven't I told you a million times to keep the locks on?"
Fidelia hung her head, looking properly remorseful. "I'll be more careful." She switched on the safety, then shot Jean-Luc a pointed look. "I know how to deal with a scumbag with nuts. — Kerrelyn Sparks

In films, we are trained by the American way of moviemaking to think we must understand and 'get' everything right away. But this is not possible. When you eat a potato, you don't understand each atom of the potato! — Jean-Luc Godard

The invention of photography. For whom? Against whom? — Jean-Luc Godard

My music library has about every genre of music possible. I've really gotten into Ray LaMontagne, He makes amazing music, so I listen to him, and he's a great artist. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

It's not where you take things from - it's where you take them to. — Jean-Luc Godard

When you go to the cinema you look up, when you watch television you look down. — Jean-Luc Godard

People come to Cannes just to advertise their films, not with a particular message. But the advantage is that if you go to the festival, you get so much press coverage in three days that it advertises the film for the rest of the year. — Jean-Luc Godard

Every film is the result of the society that produced it. That's why the American cinema is so bad now. It reflects an unhealthy society. — Jean-Luc Godard

There are no more simple images ... The world is too much for an image. You need several of them, a chain of images ... — Jean-Luc Godard

I don't think you should feel about a film. You should feel about a woman, not a movie. You can't kiss a movie. — Jean-Luc Godard

I pity the French Cinema because it has no money. I pity the American Cinema because it has no ideas. — Jean-Luc Godard

Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung fu film. — Werner Herzog

Patricia: Do you know William Faulkner?
Michel: No. Who's he? Have you slept with him? — Jean-Luc Godard

I don't have a visa for the U.S., and I don't want to apply for one. And I don't want to fly for that long. — Jean-Luc Godard

Sometime reality is too complex. Stories give it form. — Jean-Luc Godard

Humane people don't start revolutions, they start libraries. And cemeteries. — Jean-Luc Godard

Film is like a personal diary, a notebook or a monologue by someone who tries to justify himself before a camera. — Jean-Luc Godard

Her voice was like a line from an old black-and-white Jean-Luc Godard movie, filtering in just beyond the frame of my consciousness. — Haruki Murakami

Fall is my favorite my time of the year. I love it. I'll try and make it back to Vancouver a bunch. I love going back home for that. Everything turns orange. You start to get out of summer, start making your way into the winter, everyone is wearing jackets. Vancouver lights up in the fall, so I definitely go back there for a bit. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

To live in society today is like living in one enormous comic-strip. — Jean-Luc Godard

Photography is truth. — Jean-Luc Godard

Objects exist and if one pays more attention to them than to people, it is precisely because they exist more than the people. Dead objects are still alive. Living people are often already dead. — Jean-Luc Godard

If direction is a look, montage is a heartbeat. To foresee is the characteristic of both; but what one seeks to foresee in space, the other seeks in time. — Jean-Luc Godard

According to the conclusion of Dr. Hutton, and of many other geologists, our continents are of definite antiquity, they have been peopled we know not how, and mankind are wholly unacquainted with their origin. — Jean-Andre De Luc

All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl. — Jean-Luc Godard

One evening I came home and there on the couch I found my husband, Tom, with a freshly fledged crow sitting calmly in his lap. They were busy watching Star Trek: The Next Generation; since Captain Jean-Luc Picard was in the middle of an absorbing monologue, they hardly registered my arrival, but finally they both glanced my way, Tom looking a bit sheepish, the crow nibbling bits from a can of gourmet cat food. I thought of something Bernd Heinrich wrote, inspired by his raven studies, "Living with another creature, you naturally feel closer to it the more activities that can be shared, especially important activities like watching TV. — Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Alphaville is the title of one of my favorite movies. Jean-Luc Godard. — Haruki Murakami

There is no point in having sharp images when you've fuzzy ideas. — Jean-Luc Godard

It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life. — Patrick Stewart

ALPHA-60: Your name is written "Ivan Johnson," but it is pronounced "Lemmy Caution," Secret Agent Zero Zero Three of the Outlands. You are a threat to the security of Alphaville.
CAUTION: I refuse to become what you call "normal."
...
ALPHA-60: You cannot escape. The door is locked.
CAUTION: Try to stop me, pal. — Jean-Luc Godard

To become immortal, and then to die. — Jean-Luc Godard

We once believed we were auteurs but we weren't. We had no idea, really. Film is over. It's sad nobody is really exploring it. But what to do? And anyway, with mobile phones and everything, everyone is now an auteur. — Jean-Luc Godard

Good bones of Bonesville," Sherlock Bones said. "If you know what you fear, you'll fear it less. — Jean-Luc Fromental

To be immortal and then die — Jean-Luc Godard

If you want to make a documentary you should automatically go to the fiction, and if you want to nourish your fiction you have to come back to reality. — Jean-Luc Godard

Wesley Crusher: Say goodbye, Data.
Lt. Cmdr. Data: Goodbye, Data.
[crew laughs]
Lt. Cmdr. Data: Was that funny?
Wesley Crusher: [laughs]
Lt. Cmdr. Data: Accessing. Ah! Burns and Allen, Roxy Theater, New York City, 1932. It still works.
[pauses]
Lt. Cmdr. Data: Then there was the one about the girl in the nudist colony, that nothing looked good on?
Lieutenant Worf: We're ready to get under way, sir.
Lt. Cmdr. Data: Take my Worf, please.
Commander William T. Riker: [to Captain Picard] Warp speed, sir?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Please. — Star Trek The Next Generation

Reportage is interesting only when placed in a fictional context, but fiction is interesting only if it is validated by a documentary context. — Jean-Luc Godard

Every edit is a lie. — Jean-Luc Godard

Art is not a reflection of reality, it is the reality of a reflection. — Jean-Luc Godard

Au contraire, he's the person you wanted to be. One who was less arrogant, and undisciplined as a youth. One who was less like me. The Jean-Luc Picard you wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realised how fragile life is or how important each moment must be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted for much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never lead the away team on Milika Three to save the ambassador, or take charge of the Stargazer's Bridge when its Captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe. And he never, ever got noticed by anyone. — Q

Killing a man in defense of an idea is not defending an idea; it is killing a man. — Jean-Luc Godard

The cinema substitutes for our gaze a world more in harmony with our desires. — Jean-Luc Godard

When sex gets problematic, the totalitarianist walks in. — Jean-Luc Godard

Once we know the number one, we believe that we know the number two, because one plus one equals two. We forget that first we must know the meaning of plus. — Jean-Luc Godard

I don't think I could ever have a desk job, so I get to be mobile. I'm on set. I get to walk around kind of doing my own thing, being independent - it's just a really good vibe. Everyone on a film set is very happy, and they all love their jobs, so it's a cool environment to be a part of. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

Movies are a world of Fragments. — Jean-Luc Godard

Indeed, theological discourse offers its strange jubilation only to the strict extent that it permits and, dangerously, demands of it wokman that he speak beyond his means, precisely because he does not speak of himself. Hence the danger of a speech that, in a sense, speaks against the one who lends himself to it. One must obtain forgiveness for every essay in theology. In all senses. — Jean-Luc Marion

At the end of '69 I did a gig with Jean Luc Ponty here in L.A. He was an electric violinist. — George Duke

If you can't confuse them with the truth, bedazzle them with bullshit. — Jean-Luc Roy

Ignore him," Heather begged. "I do. Constantly." Jean-Luc studied the coach, then turned to Heather with a wary look. "Every man in this town wants you." She laughed. "Yea, right. The old guys from the nursing home go into cardiac arrest whenever I walk by." His gaze drifted over her. "I can believe that. — Kerrelyn Sparks

L.A. will never be a hockey town. I'm a huge hockey fan, and people out here do not appreciate hockey as much as they should. I've always been into it. I'm Canadian; that's my sport for sure. — Jean-Luc Bilodeau

The observer and the universe are part of the same universe. It's what science discovered at the beginning of this century, when they say you can't tell where an atomic particle is. You know where they are, but not their speed; or you know their speed but not their place, because it depends on you. The one who describes is part of the description. — Jean-Luc Godard

Ah, Jean-Luc...sometimes I think the only reason I keep coming here is to listen to these wonderful speeches of yours — Q

Sometimes reality is too complex for oral communication. But legend embodies it in a form which enables it to spread all over the world. — Jean-Luc Godard

Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self. — Jean-Luc Godard

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don't bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: "It's not where you take things from - it's where you take them to."
[MovieMaker Magazine #53 - Winter, January 22, 2004 ] — Jim Jarmusch

Cinema is capitalism in its purest form ... There is only one solution - turn one's back on American cinema. — Jean-Luc Godard

There is no meaning if meaning is not shared, and not because there would be an ultimate or first signification that all beings have in common, but because meaning is itself the sharing of Being. — Jean-Luc Nancy

This is not a just image, this is just an image. — Jean-Luc Godard

I make film to make time pass. — Jean-Luc Godard

People like to say, 'What do you mean exactly?' I would answer, 'I mean, but not exactly.' — Jean-Luc Godard

I like the idea of making films about ostensibly absolutely nothing. I like the irrelevant, the tangential, the sidebar excursion to nowhere that suddenly becomes revelatory. That's what all my movies are about. That and the idea that we're in possession of certainty, truth, infallible knowledge, when actually we're just a bunch of apes running around. My films are about people who think they're connected to something, although they're really not. — Jean-Luc Godard

One of the most striking signs of the decay of art is when we see its separate forms jumbled together. — Jean-Luc Godard

Beauty is composed of an eternal, invariable element whose quantity is extremely difficult to determine, and a relative element which might be, either by turns or all at once, period, fashion, moral, passion. — Jean-Luc Godard

Film begins with DW Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami. — Jean-Luc Godard

The truth is that there is no terror untempered by some great moral idea. — Jean-Luc Godard

First there was Greek civilization. Then there was the Renaissance. Now we're entering the Age of the Ass. — Jean-Luc Godard

But the strength that remains, which is principally destructive, is the film's dialectical relationship to most of the other movies that we see, its capacity to make their most time-honored conventions seem tedious, shopworn, and unnecessary. This originality often seems to be driven by hatred and anger, emotions that are undervalued in more cowardly periods such as the present... — Jonathan Rosenbaum

But he's a vampire." - Heather
Fidelia shrugged. "Nobody's perfect. My second husband - he had six toes on one foot."
"This is a little more serious than that. Jean-Luc is literally dead half the time."
Fidelia nodded. "For most men, that would be an improvement. — Kerrelyn Sparks

All you need for a movie is a gun and a cat. — Jean-Luc Godard

I've always thought - and I don't even know if I'd be right for the part - that Jean Seberg would make a great biopic. She was in Jean-Luc Godard's 'Breathless,' she played Joan of Arc. She had this eventful and traumatic adulthood, she thought the FBI was after her, and she became a darling of the French New Wave. — Gillian Jacobs

I am here tracing the History of the Earth itself, from its own Monuments. — Jean-Andre De Luc