Alejandro Jodorowsky

Director

1929-02-17

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a Chilean-French filmmaker, writer, and artist. He is known for cult films such as El Topo and The Holy Mountain and for influential work in comics and performance art. His multidisciplinary career spans cinema, literature, and spiritual commentary.

Quotes by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Although really society should not change, it should mutate. And, little by little, it is mutating...... Society is like the body of a chicken: the chicken's foot is hard and insensitive while the eye is very alive. And there are beings who embody the cells of the eyes and others who embody the cells of the feet, of the wings, or of the anus.
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This is true freedom: to be capable of leaving ourselves, crossing the boundaries of our little world to open up the universe.
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During these past years, not being able to speak with you, I dedicated myself to reviewing, within myself, the sacred books I know by heart. I had the idea I should summarize them in a single volume. Then, in a single chapter, then in a single page, and finally in a single sentence. This sentence is the greatest thing I can teach you. It seems simple, but if you understand it, you will never have to study again. The Rabbi recited it. And life, from that moment on, changed for Alejandro. If God is not here, He is nowhere; this instant itself is perfection.
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For a true artist, difficulties become opportunities and clouds become solid present.
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For a true artist, difficulties become opportunities and clouds become solid present.
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This is true freedom: to be capable of leaving ourselves, crossing the boundaries of our little world to open up the universe.
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During these past years, not being able to speak with you, I dedicated myself to reviewing, within myself, the sacred books I know by heart. I had the idea I should summarize them in a single volume. Then, in a single chapter, then in a single page, and finally in a single sentence. This sentence is the greatest thing I can teach you. It seems simple, but if you understand it, you will never have to study again. The Rabbi recited it. And life, from that moment on, changed for Alejandro. If God is not here, He is nowhere; this instant itself is perfection.
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Although really society should not change, it should mutate. And, little by little, it is mutating...... Society is like the body of a chicken: the chicken's foot is hard and insensitive while the eye is very alive. And there are beings who embody the cells of the eyes and others who embody the cells of the feet, of the wings, or of the anus.
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Revolutions are of no us;, it is necessary to work on transforming the brain: on sowing a different knowledge/awareness, on creating a new conscience, that is like a magic box full of brains.
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I say, 'If somebody steals something of yours, then it's good; he loves what you do.'
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Surrealism was necessary - essential, even - in the 1920s to bridge the gap between rationalism and the subconscious. It started something important. But by the early '60s, it had become petit-bourgeois; it was too intellectual and romantic, and had ground to a halt. It had become respectable.
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The end of the surrealism movement was so political, so artistically pure.
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When I was an adolescent, I abandoned my country at 23 years to come to Paris to know Andre Breton, the 'Pope of Surrealism.' And for three years, I was there working with him being a surrealist.
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Surrealism - in particular with Salvador Dali - was all about ego. It was all about extreme individualism.
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For me, surrealism is in my blood; it's not an effort.
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I believe in mysticism, with an interior goal, and you are your own temple and your own priest. I don't believe anymore in religions, because you see today there are religious wars, prejudice, false morals, and the woman is despised. Religion is too old now; it's from another century, it's not for today.
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George Harrison wanted to play the thief in 'Holy Mountain.'
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My grandfather was a very mystical guy who travelled from Argentina to Chile, across the mountains with a donkey, carrying the Torah.
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A true artist is always out of his time.
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Scientific thought and the miraculous unconscious are two waves in the same ocean.
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