Marilou Diaz-Abaya

"What cancer has given me ... is time. It has given me time to think about my mortality and what my life is worth. At the end of the day, what makes your life worth it is not so much what you’ve done but whom you loved."

"In Fukuoka, more than anywhere else in Japan or in the world where I have been in the company of Sato-sensei for the last two decades, I have learned my most important lessons as a filmmaker. The first is to work on each film as if it were my last. The second, to be unafraid of failure. The third, and above everything else, is to detach from both pain and glory."

"I hope to have a body of work on women, children and religion."

"Together, let us dream of peace and let us each waking day be an occasion to say yes….., let us dream, let us hope, let us act together."

"This time, let's learn from our mistakes."

"I think so. It's not mine. It's God’s. It's for everybody. Or else, I wouldn't be teaching, if I don't want to share myself."

"Friendship. Before, during, and after [marriage]"

"It's for the country! And this is the first time that I'm asked to do a film that's for the country! It's not my film!"

"I’ve learned to accept that life has passed. It’s not going to come back, but I can come back to it and relish it. I can share it. I can still enjoy it by remembering it. What’s in front of me right now is the challenge to trust in the goodness of life na (that) it’s worth it."

"If I can love one person in a small way everyday, tama na sa akin ‘yun kaya hindi ako nafu-frustrate (that's good enough for me, that why I don't become frustrated)."

"It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of humility, I think."

"I have a different kind of fight. I don’t really fight cancer. I befriended it. Ang fight, is una, fear (The fight is, first, against fear)."

"Death is so inconvenient e and illness is so inconvenient especially in our fast-phased life. And I think, ironically, it’s what people miss out on. That in reflecting about your mortality, you actually can find quiet, a kind of grace na puwede mong isaalang-alang yung sarili mo (a kind of grace that you can consider yourself). Let someone else take charge of you instead of you’re always the one na lang that’s taking care of yourself."

"I'm a nature lover so the moment you’re in touch with nature, and you love cooperating with nature and surrendering yourself to the forces of nature, you already have an advantage. You realize you are not the center of the world. You are not always in control."

"Love in all its forms. You tend to take love for granted. We don't show it enough. And most of the time it's because we don't have time enough."

"To love art is to embrace poverty and to be unafraid of the uncertainty of an artist’s lifestyle, to sacrifice security, material wealth, regular family, to become a dedicated filmmaker, a public servant at the beck and call of the artist as a citizen."

"I don’t know how much time I have left. I will therefore spend it in giving away everything I know and everything I have so I can walk to my death as light as possible. I am a child of God, and my spouse is Jesus. And that means I am filled with love, which comes with sufferings and joys and an unquenchable thirst to find meaning and grace in everyone and everything….."