Lieber die Sinnlosigkeit, wenn es eine ist, bis zur Neige gekostet.

— Werner Herzog

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All of us are in some sort of theatre we create for ourselves.

— Werner Herzog

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I'm directing landscapes as much as I'm directing characters.

— Werner Herzog

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Ich bin nicht ein Außenseiter. Außenseiter sind alle anderen. Ich bin das Zentrum.

— Werner Herzog

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A great film is very hard to describe. It's always mysterious. It sticks to you forever. It never leaves you, and becomes a part of your existence.

— Werner Herzog

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Into the Inferno; dir. by Werner Herzog in 2016

An exploration of active volcanoes in Ethiopia, Iceland, Indonesia and North Korea, Herzog follows volcanologist and co-director Clive Oppenheimer, who hopes to minimize the volcanoes' destructive impact. Herzog's quest? To gain an image of our origins and nature as a species. He finds that the volcano — mysterious, violent, and rapturously beautiful — instructs us that, "there is no single one that is not connected to a belief system".

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There are few images to be found. One has to dig for them like an archaeologist. One has to search through this ravaged landscape to find anything at all. I see so few people today who dare to address our lack of adequate images. We absolutely need images in tune with our civilization, images that resonate with what is deepest within us.

— Werner Herzog

I'm a firm believer that you can never establish the rhythm of a film in the editing room. I believe all the rhythm is in the shooting, in the way you use the camera. A director is only a lion-tamer of the wild accidents and coincidences that come along.

— Werner Herzog

Everyone can name films or music or paintings — things that give you a sense of sudden illumination. [...] Through these images I am connected and something is illuminated. And I know then that I am not alone.

— Werner Herzog