Errol Morris Quotes

Powerful Errol Morris for Daily Growth

About Errol Morris

Errol Morris (born May 4, 1953) is an American documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and photographer renowned for his innovative storytelling techniques, unconventional approaches to historical events, and exploration of moral complexities in human nature. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Morris developed a keen interest in photography at a young age, eventually studying under renowned photojournalist W. Eugene Smith. This early influence led him to work as a freelance photographer for publications like The New York Times and Life magazine before turning his attention to filmmaking. Morris's breakthrough came with the release of "The Thin Blue Line" (1988), a documentary that investigated the 1976 Dallas police shooting of a teenage hitchhiker, Randall Adams. The film used innovative reenactments and interviews to challenge the official account, ultimately leading to Adams' exoneration. Following the success of "The Thin Blue Line", Morris directed several other critically acclaimed documentaries such as "A Brief History of Time" (1992), which explored the life and work of physicist Stephen Hawking, and "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara" (2003), a reflection on the Vietnam War by former U.S Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Morris's work is characterized by his unique interviewing style, known as the Interrotron, which allows subjects to maintain eye contact with the camera during interviews, fostering more genuine and intimate conversations. His films challenge conventional narrative structures and invite viewers to question their perceptions of reality and truth. Errol Morris continues to produce compelling documentaries that probe deep into complex issues and human stories, making him a significant figure in the world of non-fiction filmmaking.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Reality is a strange, wonderful, and endlessly fascinating thing."

The quote highlights Errol Morris's perspective on reality as an enigmatic, captivating, and infinite source of intrigue. It suggests that the world around us, despite its apparent familiarity, holds uncharted depths and complexity, inviting endless exploration and understanding. This view underscores the importance of questioning, investigating, and appreciating the strange and wonderful aspects of reality in our pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.

"The truth is out there. And it's our job to find it."

This quote emphasizes the responsibility of individuals, as well as society, to seek and uncover the truth. It suggests that truth is not just passively available, but requires active effort and investigation from us. The 'truth out there' could symbolize various aspects of reality or knowledge waiting to be discovered, reminding us of our role in understanding the world around us.

"If you see something that doesn't look right, it probably isn't."

This quote suggests a fundamental principle of critical thinking and observation. If an observation or situation seems unusual or out of place, there is a high probability that it may not align with what is expected or true. It encourages us to question, examine, and investigate further in order to avoid making incorrect assumptions or drawing invalid conclusions based on first impressions or preconceived ideas.

"There are things we choose to forget, and then there are things we don't want to remember."

This quote by Errol Morris suggests that individuals have a tendency to selectively remember or forget certain experiences based on their personal preference or comfort. It underscores the idea that memory is not always an accurate reflection of reality, as it can be influenced by emotional factors, biases, and deliberate choices. In other words, we may choose to forget painful or uncomfortable memories, while holding onto pleasant ones, or conversely, keep unwanted memories at bay due to a desire for self-preservation or avoidance of discomfort.

"The facts speak for themselves... but they won't do it with any great eloquence until someone comes along to present them in a coherent and compelling fashion."

This quote emphasizes that while facts are objective truths, their impact is often contingent on how they are presented. Facts by themselves may not be persuasive or easily understood without the right context, narrative, or interpretation provided by someone who can coherently organize and compellingly present them. In essence, the quote underscores the importance of clear communication in making facts meaningful and impactful for an audience.

I think an interview, properly considered, should be an investigation. You shouldn't know what the interview will yield. Otherwise, why do it at all?

- Errol Morris

Think, I Think, Otherwise, Yield

What's great about documentary, it seems to me, is that it can be experimental filmmaking. You have a license to do a lot of diverse things under the umbrella of 'documentary.'

- Errol Morris

About, Experimental, Umbrella

I don't believe truth is conveyed by style and presentation. I don't think that if it was grainy and full of handheld material, it would be any more truthful.

- Errol Morris

Believe, Think, More, Conveyed

Films are neither true nor false. That includes my films, as well as others. They may make claims that are true or false, but films are too complex. They have too many ingredients.

- Errol Morris

False, May, Films, Claims

The proper route to an understanding of the world is an examination of our errors about it.

- Errol Morris

World, Examination, Route, Errors

If we're reading a first-person account, we know that each and every one of us, myself included, have a great desire to be seen in a certain way, or to be perceived in a certain way. It's unavoidable.

- Errol Morris

Myself, Desire, Certain Way, First-Person

But one of the amazing things about documentary is that you can remake it every time you make one. There is no rule about how a documentary film has to be made.

- Errol Morris

Made, Rule, Documentary Film, Amazing Things

I believe it was probably less than ten minutes that went by from the invention of photography to the point where people realized that they could lie with photographs.

- Errol Morris

Lie, Minutes, Could, Invention

But there's a big difference between, say, reporting on a story and simply making up a story.

- Errol Morris

Big, Making, Making Up, Reporting

There are endless anxieties in putting a film together, and it's an enormous relief when you know it's working with an audience.

- Errol Morris

Audience, Putting, Anxieties, Relief

First of all, tabloid stories are some of the richest and most important stories that we have. There's nothing wrong, per se, with tabloid stories.

- Errol Morris

Some, Stories, Tabloid, Richest

We all know that yellow journalism didn't just happen a week ago or a month ago, that yellow journalism has probably been with us as long as journalism has been with us.

- Errol Morris

Week, Happen, Been, Journalism

You know, I actually like doing commercials. I don't like doing them to the exclusion of everything else, but I like doing them.

- Errol Morris

Doing, Like, Commercials, Everything Else

I feel as if I became a documentary film-maker only because I had writer's block for four decades. There's no other good reason.

- Errol Morris

Reason, Other, Became, Decades

I like to think that I'm nonjudgmental, that I can listen and be engaged by almost anything.

- Errol Morris

Think, Like, Engaged, Almost Anything

Despite all of our efforts to control something, the world is much, much more powerful than us, and more deranged even than us.

- Errol Morris

Control, More, Despite, Deranged

When you're working for yourself and your own obsession with finding the truth, you're at your own mercy.

- Errol Morris

Truth, Working, Own, Mercy

Do I like tawdry, sleazy stories? Yeah, I do.

- Errol Morris

Like, Stories, Yeah, Sleazy

If everything was planned, it would be dreadful. If everything was unplanned, it would be equally dreadful.

- Errol Morris

Planned, Would, Equally, Dreadful

A movie is like a tip of an iceberg, in a way, because so little of what you do in connection with making a movie actually gets into the movie. Almost everything gets left behind.

- Errol Morris

Behind, Movie, Making, Iceberg

A lot of stories that have fascinated me are tabloid stories that have come from other newspapers, like 'The New York Times.'

- Errol Morris

New, Other, Stories, New York Times

But I can say what interests me about documentary is the fact that you don't know how the story ends at the onset - that you are investigating, with a camera, and the story emerges as you go along.

- Errol Morris

Fact, About, Investigating, Camera

When 'The Thin Blue Line' came out, I was criticized by many people for using reenactments, as if I wasn't dedicated to the truth because I filmed these scenes. That always and still seems to be nonsensical.

- Errol Morris

Always, Dedicated, Using, Thin

Interviews, when they are just simply an exercise in hearing what you want to hear, are of no interest.

- Errol Morris

Exercise, Want, Interest, Hearing

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it without a sense of ironic futility.

- Errol Morris

Past, Remember, Ironic, Condemned

My stuff always starts with interviews. I start interviewing people, and then slowly but surely, a movie insinuates itself.

- Errol Morris

Always, Interviewing, Surely, Slowly

I've been writing a lot more, I believe, because of the Internet. I've been posting stuff that I've written and I've just been writing.

- Errol Morris

Believe, More, Been, Posting

Certain kinds of intimacy emerge on a phone call that might never occur if you were sitting right next to the other person.

- Errol Morris

Next, Other, Might, Emerge

I used to work as a private detective years and years ago.

- Errol Morris

Private, Years And Years, Detective

My advice to all interviewers is: Shut up and listen. It's harder than it sounds.

- Errol Morris

Advice, Shut, Sounds, Harder

Listening to what people were saying wasn't even important. But it was important to look as if you were listening to what people were saying. Actually, listening to what people are saying, to me, interferes with looking as if you were listening to what people are saying.

- Errol Morris

Listening, People, Look, Interferes

Forty years ago this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died. I fear we're going down a rabbit hole once again - and if people can stop and think and reflect on some of the ideas and issues in this movie, perhaps I've done some damn good here!

- Errol Morris

Country, Here, Some, Rabbit

I think calling someone a character is a compliment.

- Errol Morris

Character, Think, I Think, Calling

Photographs can reveal something to us, and they can also conceal things.

- Errol Morris

Conceal, Reveal, Things, Photographs

I've never had any problem with crazy people. I like crazy people; I probably am a crazy person myself.

- Errol Morris

Myself, Crazy People, Like, Crazy Person

I taught my son to read with tabloids. We would sit to read the 'Weekly World News' together.

- Errol Morris

Son, News, Read, Weekly

Ecstatic absurdity: it's the confrontation with meaninglessness.

- Errol Morris

Confrontation, Ecstatic, Absurdity

A lot of the themes of my movies, the actual stories, come from tabloid stories.

- Errol Morris

Movies, Themes, Lot, Tabloid

You're meant to think somehow that literature, in espousing eternal values, is kind of normal and balanced and reasonable. When it fact it's anything but.

- Errol Morris

Think, Normal, Meant, Balanced

If you think you're going to create an unposed photograph, think again. There is no such thing.

- Errol Morris

Think, Going, Again, Photograph

If you're a journalist - and I think, on some level, I'm a journalist, and proud to be a journalist, or a documentarian, however you want to describe it - part of what I do has to be the pursuit of the truth.

- Errol Morris

Think, Some, However, Describe

Maybe existence is ultimately a lonely thing.

- Errol Morris

Existence, Maybe, Ultimately, Lonely

I've never made any money off of any of my films. Statement of fact. So without commercial work, I would be in big trouble.

- Errol Morris

Fact, Big, Films, Commercial

People lie, and they always are very very creative in finding new ways to lie.

- Errol Morris

New, Always, Very, Lie

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.