“I think being someone in love is so hard to define, so temporary, because retrospectively we often deny the state in which we were in love.”

This was pointed out to me by somebody who referred to the paintings of Rembrandt and his use of light: some elements are highlighted while others are obscured or even pushed back into the dark.

Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.

A digital camera does have many advantages and I was a believer that digital video would be a big influence on film-making.

Everybody knows that I am not usually patient enough to actually sit down and watch one of my own films from the beginning to the end – I never do.

If you are a businessman or a politician in Iran, you can get a visa as quickly as you ask for it.

Despite the great advantages of digital video and the great ease of using the medium, still those who use it have first to understand the sensitivities of how to best use the medium.

I don’t like reverse-angle shots – I find them very fake and very untruthful to the viewer.

In my opinion the man looks at the relationship in a more bitter fashion and the woman still holds great hopes.

With the RED, I didn’t have this impression at all. I felt that it was as heavy as a film camera. Having this great crew, with the DP and his assistants, I found it making as much of an impression as a very big film camera.

It’s not so much a question of whether we’ve shot it through 35mm or digital video; what is important is whether the audience accepts it as real.

I think life is so difficult to catch, it’s so furtive, that a copy, a film, can in no way catch it and represent it.

My films have been progressing towards a certain kind of minimalism, even though it was never intended. Elements which can be eliminated have been eliminated.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can’t limit it to one particular culture.

I never really learned photography.

In real life, when someone’s partner calls them, they can tell from the first word their partner says what their mood is.

Cinema gives you the opportunity to be both a grandparent and a grandchild whereas in life you cannot be both at the same time.

Just one living cell in the human body is, more complex than New York City.

The art of drawing conclusions from experiments and observations consists in evaluating probabilities and in estimating whether they are sufficiently great or numerous enough to constitute proofs. This kind of calculation is more complicated and more difficult than it is commonly thought to be.

It is essential to understand our brains in some detail if we are to assess correctly our place in this vast and complicated universe we see all around us.

I think the reason people are dealing with science less well now than 50 years ago is that it has become so complicated.

I believe all complicated phenomena can be explained by simpler scientific principles.

You’re only complicated to a man who simply wants to fuck you.

Don’t want a complicated love. Just want you to grab my demons, kiss my madness and run away with me.

Forgiveness is a complex concept. We must understand it thoroughly to be able to internalize it.