Here's to five miserable months on the wagon and the irreparable harm that it's caused me.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the negative impact of trying to adhere to societal expectations or limitations, symbolized by being 'on the wagon.'
Stanley Kubrickβs quote speaks to the personal toll of strictly adhering to a commitment, particularly in regards to sobriety or self-control, suggesting that the struggle itself can lead to suffering and harm. It highlights the irony that in trying to improve one's life or behavior, the resultant pressure and misery can be damaging.
In practice
During a support group meeting discussing challenges with addiction, this quote can highlight the pitfalls of rigid self-discipline.
The reality of the final moment, just before shooting [the scene], is so powerful that all previous analysis must yield before the impressions you receive under these circumstances, and unless you use this feedback to your positive advantage, unless you adjust to it, adapt to it and accept the sometimes terrifying weaknesses it can expose, you can never realize the most out of your film.
Because I direct films, I have to live in a major English-speaking production center. That narrows it down to three places: Los Angeles, New York and London. I like New York, but it's inferior to London as a production center. Hollywood is best, but I don't like living there.
I've never achieved spectacular success with a film. My reputation has grown slowly. I suppose you could say that I'm a successful filmmaker-in that a number of people speak well of me. But none of my films have received unanimously positive reviews, and none have done blockbuster business.
A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.
The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling.
Life is a play that does not allow testing. So, sing, cry, dance, laugh and live intensely, before the curtain closes and the piece ends with no applause.
I hope that on my tombstone it says 'Born 1933, died 2043.' I hope that's my legacy.
We do not change as we grow up. The difference between the child and the adult is that the former doesn't know who he is and the latter does.
I think about death all the time. I think that's a good thing because we're all going to die, and the only thing we can control is how we are and what we're doing in the meantime.
I never wanted to see half the things I've seen, and I've never seen half the things I wanted to. I don't think wanting comes into it. You'd best go all the same.
You have to start over. That's what they say. But life is not a board game, and losing a loved one is never really "starting over." More like "continuing without.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.