Perseverance has kept me going over the years. Things rarely happen overnight. Filmmakers should be prepared for many years of hard work. The sheer toil can be healthy and exhilarating.
If you do not have an absolutely clear vision of something, where you can follow the light to the end of the tunnel, then it doesn't matter whether you're bold or cowardly, or whether you're stupid or intelligent. Doesn't get you anywhere.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Without a clear vision, personal qualities like bravery or intelligence have little impact on achieving goals.
This quote emphasizes the importance of having a clear and defined vision in order to progress successfully. It suggests that regardless of one's personal traits, success cannot be achieved without a guiding purpose or direction—essentially, it's not enough to have courage or intelligence if one does not know what they are striving for. A clear vision is the necessary foundation upon which effective action and decision-making can be built.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about setting goals for the new year, this quote can inspire the audience to develop a clear vision.
More from Werner Herzog
All quotes →Hold firm to your vision but don't be a tyrant on set.
For a moment the feeling crept over me that my work, my vision, is going to destroy me, and for a fleeting moment I let myself take a long, hard look at myself, something I would not otherwise do--out of instinct, on principle, out of self-preservation--look at myself with objective curiosity to see whether my vision has not destroyed me already. I found it comforting to note that I was still breathing.
Very often, footage that you have shot develops its own dynamic, it's own life, that is totally unexpected, and moves away from you're original intentions. And you have to acknowledge, yes, there is a child growing and developing and moving in a direction that isn't expected-accept it as it is and let it develop its own life.
Without dreams we would be cows in a field, and I don't want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project.
Coincidences always happen if you keep your mind open, while storyboards remain the instruments of cowards who do not trust in their own imagination and who are slaves of a matrix If you get used to planning your shots based solely on aesthetics, you are never that far from kitsch.
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It is a virtue to admit ignorance when you don't know, but not to wallow in ignorance as an end in itself._x000D_ _x000D_ People say if we don't believe god is watching over us, we abandon morality. Are they right?
Patience serves us against insults precisely as clothes do against the cold. For if you multiply your garments as the cold increases, that cold cannot hurt you; in the same way increase your patience under great offenses, and they cannot hurt your feelings.
I have never met a heavy heart that wasn’t a phone booth with a red cape inside Some people will never understand the kind of superpower it takes for some people to just walk outside Some days I know my smile looks like the gutter of a falling house But my hands are always holding tight to the ripchord of believing
Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.
Adversity is wont to reveal genius, prosperity to hide it.
The farther you look back, the farther you can look ahead.