All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.
Harold PinterRead
I'll tell you something, and this is true: I've never been able to write a film which I didn't respect. I just can't do it. I'm very happy about all the films I haven't done.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the importance of respecting one's work and creative process.
In this quote, Harold Pinter conveys a strong belief in the integrity of the artistic process, asserting that he cannot write a film unless he truly respects the work. This notion highlights the value of authenticity and self-respect in creativity, implying that the films he has chosen not to create hold equal importance to those he has, as they reflect his standards and personal values.
In practice
During a speech at a film festival about the importance of artistic integrity.
All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.
I do tend to think that I've written a great deal out of my unconscious because half the time I don't know what a given character is going to say next.
I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.
It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.
There are places in my heart...where no living soul...has...or can ever...trespass.
The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, and anguished or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.
It's such a pleasant surprise when you come on set and you find someone in charge like Ken Branagh or James Ivory. You know that you're going to do a day's work and at the end of it, it's going to be good.
MORE CONSISTENTLY THAN EVER I WAS TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT CINEMA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF ART HAS ITS OWN POSSIBILITIES WHICH ARE EQUAL TO THOSE OF PROSE. I WANTED TO DEMONSTRATE HOW CINEMA IS ABLE TO OBSERVE LIFE, WITHOUT INTERFERING, CRUDELY OR OBVIOUSLY, WITH ITS CONTINUITY. FOR THAT IS WHERE I SEE THE POETIC ESSENCE OF CINEMA.
Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away.
Writers end up writing stories-or rather, stories' shadows-and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough
My only problem with fans is when they turn pro. For example, when all the professional writers were fired by DC in the '60s, they brought in a generation of comic book fans who would have paid to have written these stories.
I really - I don't take my work that seriously, and I think that's what keeps me loose. If I try to write, if I catch myself trying to write, I'll fall right on my face. I'll see it. If I see in the prose that I'm - 'Boy, look at me writing,' I rewrite it. I rewrite it because I don't, because I think it's distracting.
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