Gus Van Sant Quotes

I don't want to manipulate actuality; I want to record it.

Even though I was making documentaries, my films had fictional elements to them. I think I like blurring those distinctions because so much of what we see on television purports to be the truth, but it's often largely imaginary - or wishful thinking, or any number of less honorable things.

There's truth and then there's fiction - I think truth does exist and you can present it.

Photograph the world as it is. Nothing's more interesting than reality.

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.

The photograph isn't good enough. It's not real enough.

I try to find the picture, not create it.

I'm simply trying to tell the truth about human behaviour as I see it.

In documentaries, you're confronted with reality; you can not manipulate or move it.

I began to feel that the drama of the truth that is in the moment and in the past is richer and more interesting than the drama of Hollywood movies. So I began looking at documentary films.

Films are always a fiction, not documentary. Even a documentary is a kind of fiction.

Truth is a big concept.

I think documentary filmmaking is a braver way to make films because it's real, and you're really there.

Truth is so much more interesting than the fiction we're used to.

Never question the relevance of truth, but always question the truth of relevance.

The truth is always something that is told, not something that is known. If there were no speaking or writing, there would be no truth about anything. There would only be what is.

Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid.

Portray the world for what it is, and you will find truth.

All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.

People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truth and lies.

Part of the role of photography is to exaggerate, and that is an aspect that I have to puncture. I do that by showing the world as I really find it.

The truth cannot be deceptive, and one who sees it cannot be deceived.

Truth is in things, and not in words.

Truth is too naked. She does not inflame men.

That is what politics is really about—reality and not image.