Quotes by Hayao Miyazaki

“I am an animator. I feel like Im the manager of a animation cinema factory. I am not an executive. Im rather like a foreman, like the boss of a team of craftsmen. That is the spirit of how I work.”

“Is someone different at age 18 or 60? I believe one stays the same.”

“Modern life is so thin and shallow and fake. I look forward to when developers go bankrupt, Japan gets poorer and wild grasses take over.”

“When a man is shooting a handgun, its just like he is shooting because thats his job, and he has no other choice. Its no good. When a girl is shooting a handgun, its really something.”

“The 21st century is a complex and unforeseeable epoch. Our thinking habits and our values, which until now looked settled, are being challenged.”

“I never read reviews. Im not interested. But I value a lot the reactions of the spectators.”

“We live in an age when it is cheaper to buy the rights to movies than to make them.”

“I cant do a film after having debated it. I am unable to do a film while discussing it with my team. I issue directives. I do not achieve it otherwise.”

“Characters are pictured very simply in Moebius drawings, yet they have a sort of atmosphere around them. And the characters themselves exhale all kinds of things, notably solitude and a great nobleness. For me, it is the greatest quality of Moebius drawings.”

“But it is far too late for me to try it.”

I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live - if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.

Life is a winking light in the darkness.

Personally I am very pessimistic. But when, for instance, one of my staff has a baby you cant help but bless them for a good future. Because I cant tell that child, Oh, you shouldnt have come into this life. And yet I know the world is heading in a bad direction. So with those conflicting thoughts in mind, I think about what kind of films I should be making.

To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, a life. To exist here, now, means to lost the possibility of being countless other potential selves.. Yet once being born there is no turning back. And I think thats exactly why the fantasy worlds of cartoon movies so strongly represent our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.

Once you have met someone, you never really forget them.

If [hand-drawn animation] is a dying craft, we cant do anything about it. Civilization moves on. Where are all the fresco painters now? Where are the landscape artists? What are they doing now? The world is changing. I have been very fortunate to be able to do the same job for 40 years. Thats rare in any era.

But remember this, Japanese boy... airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.

Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage, life is still worth living. It is possible for wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist.

In this world of ours, the sparrow must live like a hawk if he is to fly at all.

Many of my movies have strong female leads- brave, self-sufficient girls that dont think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their heart. Theyll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.