Quotes by Derek Jarman

“The slow-witted approach to the HIV epidemic was the result of a thousand years of Christian malpractice and the childlike approach of the church to sexuality. If any single man was responsible, it was Augustine of Hippo who murdered his way to sainthood spouting on about the sins located in his genitals.”

“All men are homosexual, some turn straight. It must be very odd to be a straight man because your sexuality is hopelessly defensive. Its like an ideal of racial purity.”

“Im not afraid of death but I am afraid of dying. Pain can be alleviated by morphine but the pain of social ostracism cannot be taken away.”

“Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law. Understand that we are you. Understand that if we decide to have sex whether safe, safer, or unsafe, it is our decision and you have no rights in our lovemaking.”

“An orgasm joins you to the past. Its timelessness becomes the brotherhood; the brethren are lovers; they extend the family. I share that sexuality. It was then, is now and will be in the future.”

“Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law.”

“I wouldnt wish the eighties on anyone, it was the time when all that was rotten bubbled to the surface. If you were not at the receiving end of this mayhem you could be unaware of it.”

“These names: gay, queer, homosexual are limiting. I would love to finish with them. Were going to have to decide which terms to use and where we use them. For me to use the word queer is a liberation; it was a word that frightened me, but no longer.”

“The preserve of ambition and folly in pursuit of illusion, or delusion.”

Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law. Understand that we are you. Understand that if we decide to have sex whether safe, safer, or unsafe, it is our decision and you have no rights in our lovemaking.

Oh how Shakespeare would have loved cinema!