Alejandro Jodorowsky Quotes

Powerful Alejandro Jodorowsky for Daily Growth

About Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky (born April 17, 1929), a Chilean-French filmmaker, comic book writer, painter, sculptor, playwright, musician, actor, and spiritualist, is renowned for his thought-provoking and visually stunning works that defy conventional storytelling. Born in Iquique, Chile, Jodorowsky was the son of immigrant parents from Russia and Poland. His family's Jewish heritage played a significant role in shaping his worldview, and he later embraced Kabbalah, Tarot, and other mystical practices. At 18, he left for Argentina to study psychology, but his passion for art led him to act in theater groups and eventually direct plays. In 1955, Jodorowsky immigrated to Paris, France, where he continued his exploration of the arts, delving into comics, graphic novels, and surrealist painting. His comic book series 'Metabarons' and 'Johnny Future' are considered masterpieces in the genre. Jodorowsky's cinematic journey began in 1968 with his first film, 'Fando y Lis,' an adaptation of his own play. However, it was his subsequent works that truly solidified his status as a visionary director. His surrealist films, such as 'El Topo' (1970), 'The Holy Mountain' (1973), and 'Santa Sangre' (1989), are characterized by their psychedelic imagery, philosophical themes, and unconventional narratives. Jodorowsky's major works have been influenced by a diverse range of sources, including religious mythology, mysticism, psychology, and his own personal experiences. His unique artistic style and thought-provoking content continue to intrigue audiences and inspire creators worldwide.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The only limits in our life are those we set upon ourselves."

This quote by Alejandro Jodorowsky emphasizes that personal limitations are self-imposed rather than inherent or external. It suggests that individuals have the power to transcend their perceived boundaries, expand their potential, and realize their aspirations if they choose to do so. Essentially, it encourages us to break free from self-imposed restrictions and explore our fullest capacities.

"The essence of life is not in the greatness of one's achievements, but in the capacity to embrace change with an open heart."

This quote by Alejandro Jodorowsky emphasizes that the true spirit of life lies not in accumulating great accomplishments, but rather in our ability to adapt and grow amidst change. An open heart allows us to welcome new experiences, perspectives, and possibilities, fostering personal development and fulfillment. In other words, it's about embracing life's journey and the transformations it brings along, rather than solely focusing on the destination or achievements.

"When the soul wants to experience something deeply, it chooses the hard path."

This quote suggests that when we are driven to learn or achieve something profoundly, life often presents us with challenges. The "hard path" refers to these difficult experiences that force us to grow, adapt, and learn more about ourselves and the world around us. These trials can be physically, emotionally, or mentally demanding, but they ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of our potential and the human experience. In essence, it's acknowledging that true growth requires overcoming obstacles.

"I am not what has happened to me, I am what I choose to become."

This quote by Alejandro Jodorowsky emphasizes personal agency and the power of choice in shaping one's identity. Despite past experiences or circumstances, an individual is not defined solely by them; instead, they can consciously decide who they want to be and strive towards that chosen self. It encourages taking responsibility for one's life, embracing growth, and transcending limitations imposed by the past. In essence, it highlights the transformative potential within each person.

"The wound is the place where the light enters you."

This quote suggests that experiences of pain, trauma, or loss in life (the "wound") can serve as entry points for personal growth, self-awareness, and spiritual enlightenment ("the light"). The pain is not meant to be discarded or ignored but recognized as an opportunity to learn, heal, and transform.

In Mexico, when we want to speak deep secrets, we drink pulgue together. It is a drink made from the cactus plant, and when you take the bottle from your mouth, it leaves a string behind, between the mouth and the bottle, like a spider's web. It shows that the truth sticks inside.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Deep, Behind, String, Mexico

My ego every day is more and more polite. I tame it.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Every Day, More, Polite, Tame

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.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Woman, Own, Religious, Despised

Surrealism - in particular with Salvador Dali - was all about ego. It was all about extreme individualism.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Salvador Dali, Dali, Salvador

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.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Necessary, 1920s, Surrealism, Rationalism

Human society has dense borders - economic, religious and cultural - inculcated from an early age. We hate change.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Religious, Inculcated, Human Society

My grandfather was a very mystical guy who travelled from Argentina to Chile, across the mountains with a donkey, carrying the Torah.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Mountains, Donkey, Very, Torah

I grew up in the north of Chile, and this is why there are a lot of religious symbols in my pictures: because the Catholic Church in Latin America is very strong.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Strong, Religious, Very, Latin

The planet is ill, everyone knows that. But I need to be optimistic, otherwise I would just be adding to the negativity. So every night I come on Madrid TV and read a piece of good news.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Good, Good News, TV, Madrid

I don't regret any past. I am not there. I am not sorry not to make pictures, because I know one day I will do it. I intend to live 150 years.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Regret, Past, Will, Intend

Psychoanalysis wants to heal with words and speaking, but sometimes with speaking, you realize nothing.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Sometimes, Nothing, Speaking, Psychoanalysis

If you don't make errors, how can you be conscious?

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

You, How, Make, Errors

People say I am mad. I am not mad. I am trying to heal my soul.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

I Am, My Soul, Mad, Heal

The Arabs have a God, the Jews have another, and the Catholics have another! And they're all fighting to maintain that they worship the one real God. Idiots!

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Jews, Maintain, Another, Arabs

I write books, I write for comic books, I give lectures... I live. And when the opportunity comes to do a picture, I do a picture.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Give, I Write, Comic Books, Lectures

Let the inner god that is in each one of us speak. The temple is your body, and the priest is your heart: it is from here that every awareness must begin.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Here, Priest, Each One, Temple

Normality is to be different. Every person is a different person. And one day you need to be aware of your difference. Aware that you are not the same as the others. That is to be normal.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Normal, Need, One Day, Normality

When I brought 'El Topo' to New York, no one understood the picture. But John Lennon understood. John and Yoko Ono, they presented 'El Topo' in the United States; they introduced it.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

New, United States, Brought, Lennon

In history, psychedelic plants were used by priests and shamans with a desire to discover the interior.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Discover, Psychedelic, Priests

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.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Magic, New, Necessary, Sowing

For me 'Dune' was a dream - a big dream!

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Me, Dream, Big, Dune

I didn't want to make cinema so a person forgets himself and has a lot of fun. 'I forget myself, I am a little poor consumer.' I wanted to make a picture where someone who sees it say, 'This is me! This is me!'

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Me, Poor, Lot, Consumer

I am not like Hitchcock, directing the reaction of the public or the audience. I don't like that. I think this is some kind of fascism - 'You need to react like that.' No. No. It's not like this; everyone needs to react as he can.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Think, Some, Needs, Fascism

I feel terrible for directors of TV because all the episodes have to look the same. They make a great series for five or six years, and then when it's canceled, they can't break out on their own.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Own, TV, Directors, Episodes

Maybe I am a prophet. I really hope one day there will come Confucius, Muhammad, Buddha and Christ to see me. And we will sit at a table, taking tea and eating some brownies.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Some, Maybe, Prophet, Muhammad

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.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Country, Andre, Pope, Adolescent

We are all working for the immortality of the human consciousness.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Consciousness, Immortality, Human Consciousness

One day I was sitting in my own pain, and suddenly all the pain and troubles of the world came to me. I received all the pain of the world, all through my body.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Pain, Through, My Own, Sitting

Every work of art belongs to his time. I would not paint again the Mona Lisa in the third dimension.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Work, Art, Again, Mona

When I'm not creating something, I get bored; I despair.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Creating, Bored, Get, Despair

Accepting death is a massive problem for everybody.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Problem, Everybody, Massive, Accepting

'Santa Sangre' is the picture I love the best, myself, because 'El Topo' and 'The Holy Mountain' I made with my head, and 'Santa Sangre' I made with my feelings, with my heart. It's an emotional picture. And it's more real for me, that picture.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Love, Holy, Made, Feelings

My consciousness is without limits more than when I was 40 or 50.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Consciousness, More, Than, Limits

I say, 'If somebody steals something of yours, then it's good; he loves what you do.'

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Say, Loves, Steals, Yours

I was a happy man, never working. Sometimes I saw days with no money to eat. It was not so difficult.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Happy, Sometimes, Saw, Happy Man

Society feeds terror and is in turn terrorized; we are afraid to lose, so we consume.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Society, Afraid, Terror, Feeds

We have to be very conscious of the fact that beneath every illness is a prohibition. A prohibition that comes from a superstition.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Fact, Beneath, Very, Illness

When I started to pay income tax, I was 50 years old.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Old, Income, Pay, Income Tax

I don't see myself as a moviemaker only, you know? When I can do a picture, I do. But I don't work like a business, in pictures. I am not obliged to make one picture after the other in order to live.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Business, Other, Like, Order

You dream every night. Every person in the world, even if they don't remember, is dreaming every night.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Remember, World, Dreaming, Every Night

When I was a young person I went to the university and I learned a rational language, to think with the left side of the brain. But in the right side of the brain you have intuition and imagination. Words are not the truth; they indicate the way to go, but you need to go alone, in silence. Symbols have a language that kills the words.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Language, Young, University, Indicate

The first thing I didn't understand was my life. It's a mystery. And today I don't understand economy or politics. I don't know why politics or economy are destroying the world, but I will understand after understanding.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Politics, My Life, Will, Destroying

Life is beautiful, what do you think? In the morning I say, 'Ah, I am alive still!' All my friends die already. I am alive. It is fantastic.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Die, Think, Still, All My Friends

My father was an atheist, absent. He was a salesman; I was four years old when he told me that the end of life was death.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Father, Death, Old, Absent

I've seen 'Hamlet' many times, and Hamlet, he was just a hideous neurotic; he never changes. He doubts - all the way to the end, all the way until when he dies, he doubts.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Changes, Doubts, Hamlet, Dies

Scientific thought and the miraculous unconscious are two waves in the same ocean.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Waves, Same, Unconscious, Miraculous

We only have problems we really want to have.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Want, Only, Really, Problems

Tarantino's 'Django' amused me very much. It is as made by an adult that was still a child.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Very, Still, Amused, Tarantino

I had a big problem working with stars, because they are too expensive and have too many demands. Their names help you raise the money to make the movie, but then they demand close-ups. They change things. You end up doing things at their service instead of servicing the film.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Doing, Big, Movie, Demands

In Chile, they have no movies. They have awful popular movies.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Movies, Awful, Chile, Popular

Don't make your living with cinema because Hollywood will take you, will eat you, will destroy you. This is the reality. You have a good picture, have success, you take the person and they destroy you.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Living, Will, Hollywood, Good Picture

I was alone as a child. I lived in fairytales, adventures, Shakespeare. They are the friends, my books.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alone, Lived, Books, Shakespeare

I want to liberate my imagination and my mind with every kind of movie. That is what I wanted to do all my life.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Mind, My Life, Movie, All My Life

All my life, I have never found a person who really loved this world. Every person hates the world, how he is.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Life, My Life, Really, All My Life

I hated Peter O'Toole. I wanted to kill that guy! When they said he was dead, I was happy. People said, 'Poor Peter O'Toole.' I was happy!

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Happy, Dead, Guy, Hated

My films are like clouds: their meaning keeps changing every minute.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Meaning, Like, Films, Keeps

To have hands, to have fingers, is weird. Real life is weird, to have fingers?

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Weird, Hands, Real, Real Life

My ideal audience is on the young side, eager to mutate and move to a higher level of consciousness. I want my images to turn the viewer's brain into what it is: a flying carpet.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Audience, Side, Viewer, Higher

Five cats and a woman. That is all I need in life.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Cats, Woman, Need, Five

When my father died, I did not cry. When my cat died three days later, I cried a lot.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Father, Cry, Died, Cried

A man doesn't cry. In my life, I've never cried. I cannot do it. I am a man. How will I cry?

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

My Life, Cry, Will, Cried

I have always thought that, of all the arts, the cinema is the most complete art.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Art, Always, Most, Cinema

I don't want to just love my family; I want to love all of humanity.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Love, Family, Want, To Love

I liked Lady Gaga's meat dress. It was funny.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Dress, Lady, Gaga, Meat

I am a poet; I am not a worker. I need to be free.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

I Am, Poet, Need, Worker

Being essentially a creator, I never set out to shock, always thinking about creating my work and not about the benefits it could produce.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Always, Benefits, Creator, Essentially

Lady Gaga has a lot of energy, and that is fantastic, but she is using old surrealist images.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

She, Lot, Using, Fantastic

Birds born in cages think that flying is a disease.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Think, Born, Disease, Flying

I live making comics. Comics is an industrial art but less suffering, because comics are for young people who are more adventurous. I do that. I live off comics, and then I write books, but when you want movies, you cannot make movies without money.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Suffering, Young, I Write, Industrial

When I'm tired, I see industrial pictures. But I'll see one every two months. If I see one every day, I'll become an idiot.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Idiot, Every Day, Months, Industrial

I tweet 15 times a day to keep my brain stimulated.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Keep, Times, Stimulated, Tweet

The worse the newspapers speak of the world, the better I feel.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

World, Better, Feel, Newspapers

If God gives you chocolate, you open your mouth, no?

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

God, Mouth, Your, Chocolate

The world is not violent. But there is a lot of violence in it.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

World, Violent, Lot, Violence

For me, surrealism is in my blood; it's not an effort.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Effort, Me, Blood, Surrealism

The end of the surrealism movement was so political, so artistically pure.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

End, Political, Pure, Surrealism

I am an artist, you understand? For me, a picture is like poetry. When you make art, this is not coming from an intellectual place. It's coming from the deep side of your unconscious, your soul.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Art, Deep, Unconscious, Intellectual

If you are great, 'El Topo' is a great picture. If you are limited, 'El Topo' is limited.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Great, You, Limited, Picture

Today a picture has value if it makes a lot of money. Myself, I declare I want to make a picture to lose money. Really! I want to lose money.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Myself, Want, Declare, Picture

A person is not the same in his life at all times. Your consciousness is developing all the time. When I started making 'El Topo,' I was one person. When I finished that picture, I was another person.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Consciousness, Making, Picture

Books are finished.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Books, Finished

I don't live in France; I live in myself.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Myself, Live, France

George Harrison wanted to play the thief in 'Holy Mountain.'

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Mountain, Play, Wanted, George

All the pictures I could never do, I'll do it in comics. All the comics I do are the pictures I could never do.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Never, Could, Comics, Pictures

My second wife, the mother of one of my sons, died of murder. I was not with her, but I could have saved her. I think.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Think, Saved, I Think, Sons

Every one of us is a perfect human being, deformed by the family, the society and the culture.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Society, Human Being, Deformed

I was like a mutant when I was a boy. I learned to read when I was four years old; it was like a miracle.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Like, Read, Learned, Mutant

Every person, every artist makes his life an artwork.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Artist, Person, His, Artwork

Life is a mixing of all kind of things: comedy and tragedy going together.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Life Is A, Going, Mixing, Tragedy

My father was a monster. A monster! I cut with my family when I was 23 and I never see them again.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Never, See, Cut, Monster

When you put a great amount of energy and hope in a big project, you can be destroyed if you don't do it.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Project, Big, Amount, Destroyed

In movies, images cost - if you want a big image, it takes more money.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Movies, Big, Image, Cost

You live in the image you have of the world. Every one of us lives in a different world, with different space and different time.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Attitude, World, Image, Different

Failure doesn't exist. It's only a change of direction.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Change, Failure, Exist, Direction

My wife is 37 years younger than me. I don't feel the difference.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Wife, Me, Than, Younger

I don't believe in failing. I have dignity.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Believe, Failing, Dignity

We all exist in our own personal reality of craziness.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Personal, Own, Exist, Reality

For me they are no different, reality and dreams.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Dreams, Me, Different, Reality

My films are completely new. I am not similar to anybody in the history of movies.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

New, Anybody, Films, Similar

I never wanted to study art. And I don't think you need to study art if you are an artist. It's even dangerous to go to school. You need to do whatever you want, as you want.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Art, Think, Study, Dangerous

I am not a commercial industry creator. I don't believe in making art to make money.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Art, Making, Creator, Commercial

I am an honest artist.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

I Am, Artist, Am, Honest

Movies have an enormous power to open the mind and the heart and everything.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Power, Mind, Movies, Enormous

I am still radical!

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

I Am, Still, Am, Radical

I wanted to be loved by my father. I could do anything to be loved by my father.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Father, Loved, Could, Wanted

The tarot is sacred.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Tarot, Sacred

I am not a normal person. I am living in a normal body, but my mind is not normal.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Mind, Living, Normal, Normal Person

It's not the same thing to make a work - a film, a book, a play - about youth as it is to make one about old age.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Work, Play, Old, Same Thing

Pretty soon we will no longer have movies. We will have television series only.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Movies, Pretty, Longer, Series

It's so weird to be alive and to be inside a body.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Body, Alive, Inside, Weird

What's important is to give your ideas to the world if you love the world.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Love, Important, Give, Ideas

A true artist is always out of his time.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

True, Always, His, Artist

I am not a man. I am not a human being inside. I am not that. I don't know what I am, but I am not that.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Man, I Am, Know, Human Being

I always think that art is a form of sacrifice.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Art, Think, Always, Sacrifice

I am like the rain: I go where I'm needed.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Rain, I Am, Like, Am

I like Hollywood movies. I like them like I like to eat scrambled eggs; I like them for fun.

- Alejandro Jodorowsky

Movies, Eggs, Hollywood, Hollywood Movies

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