John Grierson

“The creative treatment of actuality.”

“In documentary we deal with the actual, and in one sense with the real. But the word 'real' is a tricky one.”

“The documentary is a new and vital art form that can and must serve the community.”

“The documentary idea... was a new idea for public education... to bring the citizen's mind to his citizenship.”

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”

“I look on cinema as a pulpit, and use it as a propagandist.”

“The drama on your doorstep is more valuable than the drama in Xanadu.”

“Education is a formidable word, and propaganda is a more formidable one. It is a word that the liberals have soiled. But it is a good, clean word.”

“When you have a 'message,' you must wrap it in the silkiest of entertainments.”