“You are confronted with abysses of time that are, in a way, unfathomable. You see a painting in charcoal of raindeer and it was left unfinished and somebody else finished it. But through radio carbon dating we know that the next one completed the painting 5,000 years later. You're just blown away by the notion of passage of time. We have no relationship to that kind of depth of time.” KnowsWayYearsKindNextLeftPaintingDatingDepthNotionRadioFinishedPassagesCarbonAbyssUnfinishedThe Next OnePassage Of TimeUnfathomableBlown AwayCharcoal Author:Werner Herzog
“The punishment itself is something I respectfully disagree with, but for thousands and thousands of years it was practiced everywhere.” YearsPunishmentDisagree Author:Werner Herzog
“You have to realize that, about 20,000 years ago, there was a cataclysmic event when an entire rock face collapsed and sealed off the cave. It's a completely preserved time capsule. You've got tracks of cave bears that look like they were left yesterday, and you've got the footprint of a boy who was probably eight years old next to the footprint of a wolf.” YearsLooksFacesNextLeftRealizingBoysRocksEventsBearsYears AgoTrackEightYesterdayCavesFootprintTime Capsules Author:Werner Herzog
“You are in a place that has not been seen for tens of thousands of years, because it was so sealed off. There is such silence that when you hold your breath you can hear your own heartbeat. Everything is so fresh that you have the sensation that the painters have merely retreated deeper into the dark and that they are looking at you.” YearsDarkSilenceBreathsDeeperPainterSensationsHeartbeat Author:Werner Herzog
“Technology has a great advantage in that we are capable of creating dinosaurs and show them on the screen even though they are extinct 65 million years. All of a sudden, we have a fantastic tool that is as good as dreams are.” YearsShowsDreamMillionsTechnologyCreatingCapableAdvantageToolsScreensFantasticDinosaurs Author:Werner Herzog
“It was a subject [ volcanoes] that was dormant in me for a long time and it popped up 40 years ago when I made a [short] film on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe about a volcano that was about to explode and a single farmer refused to leave ["La Soufrière"].” YearsLongMadeFilmSubjectsLong TimeYears AgoIslandsFarmersCaribbeanVolcanoesDormantShort Films Author:Werner Herzog
“Ten years ago in Antarctica shooting "Encounters at the End of the World," I met a very fine volcanologist from Cambridge University [Clive Oppenheimer] and we kept talking about doing a film and all of a sudden it became serious when he hinted at the possibility to film in North Korea.” WorldYearsEndsFilmTalkingPossibilitySeriousFineMetsTenYears AgoUniversityShootingEncountersEnd Of The WorldKoreaNorth KoreaCambridgeAntarcticaCambridge University Author:Werner Herzog
“The wonderful thing is that Clive [Oppenheimer ] insisted on training his camera - his private camera - on me at one point. We were discussing things such as how to avoid certain dangers, while reflecting on a volcano that had threatened to explode 40 years ago.” YearsCertainWonderfulDangerTrainingYears AgoCamerasThreatenedWonderful ThingsReflectingDiscussingVolcanoes Author:Werner Herzog
“The volcano itself wasn't that interesting, but the man who refused to be evacuated - the only one of 75,000 people - was what set the tone for the film ["Encounters at the End of the World"] that we made together [with Clive Oppenheimer] ten years later.” PeopleMenWorldYearsMadeEndsTogetherFilmInterestingHe ManTenToneEncountersEnd Of The WorldVolcanoes Author:Werner Herzog
“We were very, very lucky [with Tim White filmed making historic discoveries in the East African Rift ] . In 100 years, only three skeletal remains [of early man] were ever found at this site. This was the third one, and we were right there when it happened. In fact, when I first heard they had found something, I said, "Please stop it! Don't do anything right now. Let's do it tomorrow until we have unpacked our cameras and assembled our stuff.” MenYearsFirstsSaidFactsThreeFoundStuffWhiteHappenedHeardTomorrowPleaseRight NowLuckyDiscoveryThirdsCamerasRemainsEastSiteHistoricRift Author:Werner Herzog
“[Tim White] always spoke about his work in terms of forensics, as if he was investigating a crime scene. While we were there, they found the fossilized excrement of a lion that had turned into stone, and we would immediately start to concoct stories. Was it a lion that killed the early human? Of course, the lion could've been there three weeks later, or maybe 20,000 years earlier.” IfsYearsHumansStoriesThreeCoursesFoundTermWhiteWeekCrimeSceneStonesSpokesLionsInvestigatingForensics Author:Werner Herzog
“We are just a blip. I found it very interesting when Clive [Oppenheimer] interviewed the Ethiopian scientists and asked them, "Do we have another 100,000 years?" In their calculation, mankind will be entering a very critical phrase a thousand years from now.” YearsFoundInterestingMankindThousandScientistCriticalPhrasesThousand YearsEnteringVery InterestingCalculations Author:Werner Herzog
“We haven't seen a real volcanic event at least in 74,000 years - [Mount Toba] in Indonesia, in Sumatra, where the crater itself is 100 kilometers across. It was so monumental, what happened, that for a very long time the entire atmosphere of our planet was darkened. It's not the lava and the heat per se; it's the obscuring of the entire atmosphere, and it made it very difficult for the human race to survive.” YearsHumansLongMadeRealDifficultRaceHappenedEventsHavensPlanetsLong TimeMade ItAtmosphereHuman RaceHeatOur PlanetIndonesiaLavaCraters Author:Werner Herzog
“I think Irish people started to move to the United States - many things that were of consequence. And it was a tiny and mild event compared to what had happened 74,000 years ago.” PeopleThinkingYearsStatesMovingUnitedUnited StatesHappenedEventsConsequenceYears AgoTiny Author:Werner Herzog
“Of course, you do not do any research: you have to go there and do your film. It's not that I would travel there before without a camera and spend half a year on one of those volcanoes and then come back with a camera. You have to have some sort of a clear mindset.” YearsFilmCoursesHalfClearResearchCamerasMindsetVolcanoesHalf A Year Author:Werner Herzog
“All of a sudden it's twelve-year-olds who are contacting me, fifteen-year-olds, and they have very, very fascinating questions. However, they speak in a language of their age group which I have to learn first.” YearsFirstsAgeSpeakLanguageGroupsFascinatingTwelveFifteenFifteen Years Author:Werner Herzog
“If you don’t have a deal in two days, you won’t have a deal in two years.” IfsYearsTwoDealsTwo YearsTwo Days Author:Werner Herzog
“We live in an era when established values are no longer valid, when prodigious discoveries are being made every year, when catastrophes of unbelievable proportions occur weekly. In ancient Greek the word “chaos” means “gaping void” or “yawning emptiness.” The most effective response to the chaos in our lives is the creation of new forms of literature, music, poetry, art and cinema.” YearsMeanArtMadeFormLife IsValuesLiteratureOur LivesCreationDiscoveryResponseChaosAncientErasGreekCinemaProportionEmptinessVoidCatastropheUnbelievableAncient GreekProdigiousYawning Author:Werner Herzog
“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.” ShouldYearsHardHappensHard WorkHealthyPreparedPerseveranceFilmmakerSheerBe PreparedToilExhilarating Author:Werner Herzog
“The Rogue Film School is not for the faint-hearted. It is for those who have travelled on foot, who have worked as bouncers in sex clubs or as wardens in a lunatic asylum, for those who are willing to learn about lock picking or forging shooting permits in countries not favoring their projects. In short: for those who have a sense of poetry. For those who are pilgrims. For those who can tell a story to four year old children and hold their attention. For those who have a fire burning within. For those who have a dream.” YearsChildrenCountryStoriesDreamSchoolFilmSexAttentionFireFourFeetWillingProjectsClubsBurningShootingPermitFour YearsLocksHeartedLunaticPilgrimAsylumsRoguesFilm SchoolForgingWardensWilling To LearnLunatic AsylumsFire BurningFaint Hearted Author:Werner Herzog
