John Cassavetes

Most people don't know what they want or feel. And for everyone, myself included, It's very difficult to say what you mean…

— John Cassavetes

I think people are very stiff. Money makes people stiff, and we want it, and we have to pay the penalty. I…

— John Cassavetes

During the actual filming, I’m not really listening to dialogue. I’m watching to see if the actors are communicating something and expressing…

— John Cassavetes

As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail.

— John Cassavetes

'Faces' became more than a film. It became a way of life, a film against the authorities and the powers that prevent…

— John Cassavetes

No matter how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you're keeping the man-child alive.

— John Cassavetes

Filmmaking is exploring. Why would I want to make a film about something I already understand?

— John Cassavetes

The camera is the slave to the actor.

— John Cassavetes

The greatest location in the world is the human face.

— John Cassavetes

“These days, everybody is supposed to be so intelligent: ‘Isn’t it terrible about Nixon getting elected?’ ‘Did you hear about the earthquake…

— John Cassavetes

We only have two hours to change people's lives.

— John Cassavetes

I won't make shorthand films, because I don't want to manipulate audiences into assuming quick, manufactured truths.

— John Cassavetes

I don't care about being on top, about being No. 1. I just make movies for a few suckers in the audience, anyway.

— John Cassavetes

There's a difference between ad-libbing and improvising. And there's a difference between not knowing what to do and just saying something. Or…

— John Cassavetes

We don't take the time to be vulnerable with each other

— John Cassavetes

There is no reason why a serious film, one about life, can't be enjoyable, maybe even fun. Emotions can be very entertaining,…

— John Cassavetes

You can defeat fear through humor, through pain, through honesty, bravery, intuition, and through love in the truest sense.

— John Cassavetes

The idea of love as a mysterious, undiscovered world has come to have no place in our innermost imagination.

— John Cassavetes

By the age of 50, I would like to know that I'm not dead - that there's some continuity to my life.

— John Cassavetes

Art films aren't necessarily photography. It's feeling. If we can capture a feeling of a people, of a way of life, then…

— John Cassavetes

As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail...Say what you…

— John Cassavetes

Ricardo Montalban is to improvisational acting what Mount Rushmore is to animation.

— John Cassavetes

To me there is a name for each person. I think it’s marvelous to have a name. A woman is not a…

— John Cassavetes

My films are expressive of a culture that has had the possibility of attaining material fulfillment while at the same time finding…

— John Cassavetes

My parents allowed their two sons to be individuals. My family was a wild and wonderful place, with lots of friends and…

— John Cassavetes