I understand, all right. The hopeless dream of being - not seeming, but being. At every waking moment, alert. The gulf between what you are with othe… - Ingmar Bergman

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I understand, all right. The hopeless dream of being - not seeming, but being. At every waking moment, alert. The gulf between what you are with others and what you are alone. The vertigo and the constant hunger to be exposed, to be seen through, perhaps even wiped out. Every inflection and every gesture a lie, every smile a grimace. Suicide? No, too vulgar. But you can refuse to move, refuse to talk, so that you don't have to lie. You can shut yourself in. Then you needn't play any parts or make wrong gestures. Or so you thought. But reality is diabolical. Your hiding place isn't watertight. Life trickles in from the outside, and you're forced to react. No one asks if it is true or false, if you're genuine or just a sham. Such things matter only in the theatre, and hardly there either. I understand why you don't speak, why you don't move, why you've created a part for yourself out of apathy. I understand. I admire. You should go on with this part until it is played out, until it loses interest for you. Then you can leave it, just as you've left your other parts one by one.

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About Ingmar Bergman

Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish director, screenwriter, and producer whose unique cinematographic style made him one of the most notable directors of the twentieth century.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Ernst Ingmar Bergman
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Growing older is like climbing a mountain: the higher you get, the more strength you need, but the further you see.

One of the strongest feelings I remember from my childhood is, precisely, of being humiliated; of being knocked about by words, acts, or situations. Isn't it a fact that children are always feeling deeply humiliated in their relations with grown-ups and each other? I have a feeling children spend a good deal of their time humiliating one another. Our whole education is just one long humiliation, and it was even more so when I was a child.

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