My Last Sigh Quotes

“Sometimes, watching a movie is a bit like being raped.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“I can't help feeling that there is no beauty without hope, struggle, and conquest.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Even today, I've no idea what the truth is, or what I did with it.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“I also remember being struck by de Sade's will, in which he asked that his ashes be scattered to the four corners of the earth in the hope that humankind would forget both his writings and his name. I'd like to be able to make that demand; commemorative ceremonies are not only false but dangerous, as are all statues of famous men. Long live forgetfulness, I've always said—the only dignity I see is in oblivion.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“As inexplicable as the accidents that set it off, our imagination is a crucial privilege. I've tried my whole life simply to accept the images that present themselves to me without trying to analyze them. I remember when we were shooting That Obscure Object of Desire in Seville and I suddenly found myself telling Fernando Rey, at the end of a scene, to pick up a big sack filled with tools lying on a bench, sling it over his shoulder, and walk away. The action was completely irrational, yet it seemed absolutely right to me. Still, I was worried about it, so I shot two versions of the scene: one with the sack, one without. But during the rushes the following day, the whole crew agreed that the scene was much better with the sack. Why? I can't explain it, and I don't enjoy rummaging around in the cliches of psychoanalysis.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“What am I to God? Nothing, a murky shadow. My passage on this earth is too rapid to leave any traces; it counts for nothing in space or in time. God really doesn't pay any attention to us, so even if he exists, it's as if he didn't. My form of atheism, however, leads inevitably to an acceptance of the inexplicable. Mystery is inseparable from chance, and our whole universe is a mystery. Since I reject the idea of a divine watchmaker (a notion even more mysterious than the mystery it supposedly explains), then I must consent to live in a kind of shadowy confusion. And insofar as no explication, even the simplest, works for everyone, I've chosen my mystery. At least it keeps my moral freedom intact.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“One of the greatest tragedies in my life is my deafness, for it's been over twenty years now since I've been able to hear notes. When I listen to music it's as if the letters in a text were changing places with one another, rendering the words unintelligible and muddying the lines. I'd consider my old age redeemed if my hearing were to come back, for music would be the gentlest opiate, calming my fears as I move toward death. In any case, I suppose the only chance I have for that kind of miracle involves nothing short of a visit to Lourdes.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“De todas as pessoas que conheci, Federico vem em primeiro lugar. Não falo nem de seu teatro nem de sua poesia, falo dele. A obra-prima era ele. Parece inclusive difícil imaginar alguém comparável. Quer ao piano imitando Chopin, quer improvisando uma pantomima, um esquete teatral, era irresistível. Podia ler qualquer coisa, a beleza sempre jorrava de seus lábios. Ele tinha a paixão, a alegria, a juventude. Era uma labareda.
Quando o conheci, na Residência dos Estudantes, eu era um atleta provinciano bem tacanho. Pela força da nossa amizade, ele me transformou, me fez conhecer outro mundo. Devo a ele mais do que consigo dizer.
Seus restos mortais nunca foram encontrados. Lendas circularam sobre sua morte, e Dalí – de um jeito bem ignóbil – chegou a falar em crime homossexual, o que é totalmente absurdo. Na realidade, Federico morreu porque era poeta. Nessa época, do outro lado, ouvia-se gritar: “Morte à inteligência!”
― Luis Buñuel, Mi último suspiro

“لو قالوا لي, بقي لك من الحياة عشرون يومًا, ماذا تفضل ان تفعل في الساعات الأربع والعشرين من كل يوم من هذه الأيام التي سوف تعيشها؟ لأجبت: اعطوني ساعتين من الحياة الفاعلة, وعشرين ساعة من الأحلام, شرط ان اتذكرها فيما بعد, لأن الحلم موجود لمجرد الذكرى التي نتعلل بها.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Imposible beber sin fumar”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Of course, fantasy and reality are equally personal, and equally felt, so their confusion is a matter of only relative importance.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Si me dijeran: te quedan veinte años de vida, ¿qué te gustaría hacer durante las veinticuatro horas de cada uno de los días que vas a vivir?, yo respondería: dadme dos horas de vida activa y veinte horas de sueños, con la condición de que luego pueda recordarlos; porque el sueño sólo existe por el recuerdo que lo acaricia.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“كثيراً ما أسأل ماذا كانت السيريالية، و لا أدرى بم أجيب، أحياناً أقول بأن السيريالية قد نجحت فيما هو هامشى و فشلت فيما هو أساسى. (أندريه بريتون) و (ايلوار) و (اراغون) يُعتبرون من بين أفضل الكتاب الفرنسيين فى القرن العشرين، و يحتلون مكاناً جيداً فى جميع المكتبات. (ماكس ارنست) و (ماغريت) و (دالى) يُعتبرون من بين أكثر الرسامين قيمةً و شهرةً، و يحتلون مكاناً جيداً فى المتاحف، لكن المجد الفنى و النجاح الأدبى كانا الشيئين الأقل أهمية بالنسبة لمعظمنا. دخلت الحركة السيريالية -و من غير قصد- فى جميع الفهارس السنوية للأدب و الرسم. أما ذلك الأمر الذى كانت ترغب به أكتر من أى شيء اّخر، رغبة متسلطة، غير قابلة للتحقيق، و هو تغيير العالم، و تبديل شروط الحياة.. فى هذا الأمر الأساسى يكفينا إلقاء نظرة حولنا لكى ندرك مدى إخفاقنا.
و اليوم و نحن نرى هذا المكان الأخير الذى تحتله السيريالية فى العالم, بين القوى التى لا يمكن تعدادها و أمام التجدد المستمر للحقيقة التاريخية, و قد ابتلعتنا أحلام كبيرة كبر الأرض, فإننى أدرك أننا لم نكن شيئاً, لم نكن أكثر من مجموعة صغيرة من المثقفين السليطين, نثرثر فى مقهى و نصدر مجلة. حفنة من المثاليين تتفرق عندما يكون عليها أن تشارك فى العمل بصورة مباشرة و فعالة.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Mas creio que é preciso evitar ver, nessas leis necessárias que nos permitem viver juntos, uma necessidade fundamental, primordial. Parece-me, na realidade, que não é necessário que este mundo exista, que não é necessário que estejamos aqui vivendo e morrendo. Já que somos apenas os filhos do acaso, a terra e o universo poderiam ter continuado sem nós, até à consumação dos séculos. Imagem inimaginável, a de um universo vazio e infinito, teoricamente inútil, que nenhuma inteligência poderia contemplar, que existiria sozinho, caos duradouro, abismo inexplicavelmente privado de vida. Talvez outros mundos, que não conhecemos, sigam assim seu curso inconcebível. Atração pelo caos que às vezes sentimos profundamente em nós mesmos.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“For me, it was a film about passion, l’amour fou, the irresistible force that thrusts two people together, and about the impossibility of their ever becoming one.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh: The Autobiography of Luis Bunuel

“(I’ve always believed that the imagination is a spiritual quality that, like memory, can be trained and developed.)”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh: The Autobiography of Luis Bunuel

“Añadiré —Dalí me lo hizo observar— que los surrealistas eran guapos.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“The real purpose of surrealism was not to create a new literary, artistic, or even philosophical movement, but to explode the social order, to transform life itself.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh: The Autobiography of Luis Bunuel

“Me decía: ¡habrían tenido que hacerme leer a Sade antes que todas las demás cosas!”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Muy nervioso, como es de suponer, yo me situé detrás de la pantalla con un gramófono y, durante la proyección, alternaba los tangos argentinos con Tristán e Isolda. Me había puesto unas piedras en el bolsillo, para tirárselas al público si la película era un fracaso.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Tengo que confesar aquí que la admiración que me merece el teatro de Lorca es más bien escasa. Su vida y su personalidad superaban con mucho a su obra, que me parece a menudo retórica y amanerada.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“El profesor señala con el dedo a un alumno y le dice: «¡Refúteme a Buñuel!» Y es cuestión de dos minutos.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“El bar es para mí un lugar de meditación y recogimiento, sin el cual la vida es inconcebible.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Imaginatively speaking, all forms of life are equally valuable - even the fly, which seems to me as enigmatic and as admirable as the fairy”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Hij [Salvador Dali] heeft wel eens andere vrouwen verleid, met name Amerikaanse miljardaires, maar hij volstond er dan bijvoorbeeld mee ze in zijn appartement uit te kleden, twee eieren te bakken, die twee eieren op hun schouders te leggen en ze weer terug weg te sturen zonder verder nog een woord te zeggen.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Fanatisme staat me tegen, waar ik het ook aan tref. Alle godsdiensten hebben de waarheid gevonden. Dat geldt ook voor het marxisme.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“The only reason to sign [petitions] is to assuage the conscience of the signatory.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh

“Hay que haber comenzado a perder la memoria, aunque sea sólo a
retazos, para darse cuenta de que esta memoria es lo que constituye
toda nuestra vida. (...) Nuestra memoria es nuestra coherencia, nuestra
razón, nuestra acción, nuestro sentimiento.”
― Luis Buñuel, Mi ultimo suspiro

“Buenazo, imprevisible, aragonés de Huesca, estudiante de Medicina que nunca aprobó un examen, hijo del director de la Compañía de Aguas de Madrid, ni pintor, ni poeta, Pepín Bello no fue nada más que nuestro amigo inseparable”
― Luis Buñuel, Mi último suspiro

“(In the annals of Parisian cultural history, the episode is still known as “the scandal of L’Age d’or.”) A week later, Police Chief Chiappe closed the theatre; the film was censored, and remained so for fifty years.”
― Luis Buñuel, My Last Sigh: The Autobiography of Luis Bunuel