Top 49 Quotes & Sayings by Klaus Kinski

Put a bird cage near the window so that the bird can see the sky? It's much better to look than not to, even if it hurts.

About 25 years ago, I was in an apartment, and next door, they put on the radio, so I struck the wall with my fist, but they did not put the radio down. I took a tool and banged until I made a hole through the wall. It was like a comedy movie.

Why do I continue making movies? Making movies is better than cleaning toilets.

I knew there were, in myself, the souls of millions of people who lived centuries ago; not just people but animals, plants, the elements, things, even, matter. All of these exist in me.

People who do not see the terrible things therefore do not see the beautiful things, either.

Where a beast would have claws, I was born with talent.

One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real.

I am not the Jesus of the official church tolerated by those in power. I am not your superstar.

It is true what Rimbaud said; If you think a book is strong enough, try it at the ocean, in the wind, at the waves. If the book can resist the ocean, then it exists. Otherwise, throw it away.

The truth is, I can never die. For I will be in everything and see you in everything and watch over you. I am your reaction in the water of a mountain lake.

It is the Nobel Prize I want. It's worth $400,000.

Why have I had this life? If I knew, I wouldn't have done it.

But words - words are not enough!

You don't need a framework. You need a painting, not a frame.

I sell myself for the highest price. Exactly like a prostitute. There is no difference.

What do you think, that a dollar in a savings account is freedom? Maybe you have understood nothing I have said.

I am dying of hunger.

I am your fairy tale. Your dream. Your wishes and desires, and I am your thirst and your hunger and your food and your drink.

Once, I took a taxi. I hate those limousines. They stink and their drivers have been driving dead people to the cemeteries.

Whenever I was with a woman, I always sort of want another one. So there was always another one. I can't explain this.

I could be with a woman in a bed, for weeks even, and it would seem to me like three seconds. Or 300 years.

The ultimate acting is to destroy yourself.

Sometimes my heart hurts so much, I beat it with my fists. I try to run. But you cannot run from this. It waits for you. Even when you think you have escaped it, it is there.

I make movies for money, exclusively for money.

Fun? There is no fun.

I didn't choose solitude.

You leap over the wall of one ghetto and find yourself in another ghetto.

In a way, everything concerning a movie leaves me cold.

I have to shoot without any breaks. I yell at Herzog and hit him. I have to fight for every sequence. I wish Herzog would catch the plague, more than ever.

When you are there, you are. With words, you aren't.

I don't need anybody to tell me how to be alive.

The dimensions of my feelings are too violent.

You have to protect yourself, your body, your being. You cannot treat it badly; you have to keep it, make as sensitive as possible.

You have to protect yourself, your body, your being. You cannot treat it badly; you have to keep it, make as sensitive as possible

The street kid in me says, "Grab the money and run - who cares who it's from! Don't think about whatever you have to do for it or when you have to do it!

Why have I had this life? If I knew, I wouldn't have done it

Where a beast would have claws, I was born with talent

I've solved the mystery: You have to submit silently. Open up, let go. Let anything penetrate you, even the most painful things. Endure. Bear up. That's the magic key! The text comes by itself, and its meaning shakes the soul. You mustn't let scar tissue form on your wounds; you have to keep ripping them open in order to turn your insides into a marvelous instrument that is capable of anything. All this has its price.

I wish I'd never been an actor. I'd rather have been a streetwalker, selling my body, than selling my tears and my laughter, my grief and my joy.

Whenever I was with a woman, I always sort of want another one. So there was always another one. I can't explain this, but it means that these women, they were not sharing my solitude.

I didn't want to be alone, but I had to learn that the dimensions of my feelings are too violent. I had to learn this.

On working with director Werner Herzog: I have to shoot without any breaks. I yell at Herzog and hit him. I have to fight for every sequence. I wish Herzog would catch the plague.

I actually get venereal disease more often than most people catch colds.

Working with a great director is wonderful for an actor because it means that you're not forced to take the advice of an idiot.

The truth is, I can never die. For I will be in everything and see you in everything and watch over you. I am your reaction in the water of a mountain lake

If I hadn't refused Ken Russell, Fellini and Spielberg and made their movies when they asked me, my life would be no different. It is not my fault that I accepted one movie and turned down another. I don't see any point in defending myself, either.

I would have been better than Adolf Hitler. I could have delivered his speeches a lot better... that's for certain.

The flamenco of the Gypsy has nothing to do with the flamenco for tourists. Real flamenco is like sex.

At sixteen I get drafted. When I read the draft notice, I cry. Not because I'm a coward - I'm not afraid of anyone. But I don't want to kill or be killed.