Quotes by Bunuel, Luis

"In the name of Hippocrates, doctors have invented the most exquisite form of torture ever known to man: survival."

Bunuel, Luis on age and aging   

"The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time."

Bunuel, Luis on alcohol and alcoholism   

"If someone were to prove to me -- right this minute -- that God, in all his luminousness, exists, it wouldn't change a single aspect of my behavior."

Bunuel, Luis on god   

"Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether."

Bunuel, Luis on imagination
3 fans of this quote   

"In any society, the artist has a responsibility. His effectiveness is certainly limited and a painter or writer cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of non-conformity alive. Thanks to them the powerful can never affirm that everyone agrees with their acts. That small difference is important."

Bunuel, Luis on art   

"I can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life."

Bunuel, Luis on memory   

"You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all, just as an intelligence without the possibility of expression is not really an intelligence. Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing."

Bunuel, Luis on memory   

"A paranoiac, like a poet, is born, not made."

Bunuel, Luis on paranoia   

"God and Country are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed."

Bunuel, Luis on patriotism   

"If the devil were to offer me a resurgence of what is commonly called virility, I'd decline. Just keep my liver and lungs in good working order, I'd reply, so I can go on drinking and smoking!"

Bunuel, Luis on sex
3 fans of this quote   

"If alcohol is queen, then tobacco is her consort. It's a fond companion for all occasions, a loyal friend through fair weather and foul. People smoke to celebrate a happy moment, or to hide a bitter regret. Whether you're alone or with friends, it's a joy for all the senses. What lovelier sight is there than that double row of white cigarettes, lined up like soldiers on parade and wrapped in silver paper? I love to touch the pack in my pocket, open it, savor the feel of the cigarette between my fingers, the paper on my lips, the taste of tobacco on my tongue. I love to watch the flame spurt up, love to watch it come closer and closer, filling me with its warmth."

Bunuel, Luis on smoking   

"Tobacco and alcohol, delicious fathers of abiding friendships and fertile reveries."

Bunuel, Luis on vice   

"Poor workers! First they're cuckolded, and, as if that weren't enough, then they're beaten! Work's a curse, Saturno. I say to hell with the work you have to do to earn a living! That kind of work does us no honor; all it does is fill up the bellies of the pigs who exploit us. But the work you do because you like to do it, because you've heard the call, you've got a vocation --that's ennobling! We should all be able to work like that. Look at me, Saturno --I don't work. And I don't care if they hang me, I won't work! Yet I'm alive! I may live badly, but at least I don't have to work to do it!"

Bunuel, Luis on work   

"All my life I've been harassed by questions: Why is something this way and not another? How do you account for that? This rage to understand, to fill in the blanks, only makes life more banal. If we could only find the courage to leave our destiny to chance, to accept the fundamental mystery of our lives, then we might be closer to the sort of happiness that comes with innocence."

Bunuel, Luis on curiosity