Klaus Kinski quotes

Klaus Kinski was a German actor renowned for his intense and often controversial performances in both European and international cinema. Widely recognized for his collaborations with director Werner Herzog, he became an iconic figure of arthouse and cult films. He captivated audiences with his volatile screen presence and unpredictable personal life. Here are 66 of his quotes:

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.

Klaus Kinski

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.

Klaus Kinski

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!"

Klaus Kinski

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

Klaus Kinski

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.

Klaus Kinski

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

Klaus Kinski

The ultimate acting is to destroy yourself.

Klaus Kinski

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

Klaus Kinski

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

Klaus Kinski

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.

Klaus Kinski

I didn't choose to be alone. But I cannot 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. There is no time sense because of things that are going on in you. I don't know, there is no explanation of this. But every time, even with someone I.... But 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 wanted to stay with somebody, but I couldn't, it wasn't possible, because of this thing moving in myself. I had to learn this. 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.

Klaus Kinski

The jungle is life itself. A thousand times more alive than anything you've ever seen. We didn't go there to be a part of it. We invaded it. We shaved the jungle and made a stinking camp in the middle of it. Radios blaring. It was disgusting.

Klaus Kinski

I want to be free, independent. Free of all coercion. Free of any need to rely on other people. I have no credit cards, nor do I want any. I toss the cash on the table. I leave others in peace and I want to be left in peace. I spend my nights sleeping on the ground in the forest. I embrace trees as I have done all my life. I smell their bark and kiss it. I lay my face on the moss and breathe in the spicy aroma of fruitfulness as if I were lying on a woman's belly.

Klaus Kinski

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.

Klaus Kinski

Steven Spielberg offers me a part in Raiders of the Lost Ark... But as much as I'd like to do a movie with Spielberg, the script is as moronically shitty as so many other flicks of this ilk. At the same time, Claude Lelouch is nagging me to do his Les Uns et les Autres (Bolero). I'd be willing to do this project, but not for the shabby pittance that this rat offers me.

Klaus Kinski

I don't try to justify myself or defend myself. I've always done what I had to. She should know for herself that I love her, that I've loved her always, always. Those years you can't replace by words, though. After years and years, words get weaker and weaker.

Klaus Kinski

He should be thrown alive to the crocodiles! An anaconda should strangle him slowly! A poisonous spider should sting him and paralyze his lungs! The most venomous serpent should bite him and make his brain explode! No - panther claws should rip open his throat - that would be much too good for him! Huge red ants should piss into his lying eyes and gobble up his balls and his guts! He should catch the plague! Syphilis! Yellow fever! Leprosy! It's no use; the more I wish him the most gruesome deaths, the more he haunts me.

Klaus Kinski

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

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.

Klaus Kinski

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.

Klaus Kinski

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.

Klaus Kinski

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

Klaus Kinski