Faith is a torment, did you know that? It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call. - Ingmar Bergman

"Sometimes I go for days without speaking to a soul. I think, “I should make that call", but I put it off. Because there’s something pleasurable about not talking. But then I love talking, so it’s not that. But sometimes it can be nice. It’s not like I sit here philosophizing, because I’ve no talent for that. It’s just this thing about silence that’s so wonderful.

Helena Ekdahl, the famous actress – who was brought to Uppsala by her rich, young husband – who bought a theatre for her – and allowed her to play in it until he decided it was time to start a family.

"I make my films, Charlie. I do my lighting, place my camera angles and I tell the actors to walk this way and do this, and there you're supposed to cry and there you're in a rage, and we keep on doing it and keep it up like the very devil and we never give up. And then the audience sits there one evening, and if we're lucky they'll cry where we decided they would cry and laugh when we want them to - right. You know all that. That is the whole mystery, Charlie"
- Georg Af Klercker in Ingmar Bergman's play "The Last Scream"