When I do a film that has nothing to do with Kurt Weill, then I am happy, I am on my own. But in a Kurt Weill work I am as nervous as a cat. A burden falls on my shoulders. I feel a crushing responsibility.

[After World War II:] By now we are used to the rubble, which they clear up religiously and indefatigably. What a determination to get on top again! One could admire it, if one would not be afraid that somewhere lurks another Hitler. But you can't seem to find a single Nazi in Germany! Nobody was one! It was all a dream!

[I have] a heavenly vase full of autumn leaves today. They look so beautiful. How much closer to God can one get? And a beautiful blue heron flew over the brook. Nature can make me cry faster than anything.

[Bertholt] Brecht looked very thin, like a herring with very sensitive hands.