I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.

You've got to honor your relationship with your audience - that they sit down because they want to be entertained. And that doesn't mean you can't provoke them and antagonize them and challenge them in the course of the entertainment as long as you keep the entertainment part of the equation alive.

The aggressive unprovoked acts of violence against Israel by Hezbollah and Hamas are revealing. It is clear they don't want peace but rather seek the ultimate destruction of Israel.

Whoever has provoked men to rage against him has always gained a party in his favor too.

'Funny Games' was conceived as a provocation. My other films are different. If people feel my other films are or respond to them as provocation then that's quite different. 'Funny Games' is the only one of mine where my intention was to provoke the audience.

After that he turned to the question of invading England. Hitler said that during the previous year he could not afford to risk a possible failure apart from that he had not wished to provoke the British as he hoped to arrange peace talks.

To provoke dreams of terror in the slumber of prosperity has become the moral duty of literature.

The best films of any kind narrative or documentary provoke questions.

I don't think art is propaganda it should be something that liberates the soul provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it.

Anger if not restrained is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.