Werner Herzog is one of my favorite filmmakers. Happy People, his movie about life in Siberia, with all its hardships and stark, hard beauty, is one of my all-time, desert-island favorites.

Today I stumbled across this gem from back in the day: “24 pieces of advice from Werner Herzog for filmmakers.” I don’t agree with every single one—”take revenge if need be,” for example—but I adore his badass worldview. Here are a few of my favorite bits:

• Always take the initiative.
• Send out all your dogs and one might return with prey.
• Learn to live with your mistakes.
• Carry bolt cutters everywhere.
• Learn to read the inner essence of a landscape.
• Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory.
• Don’t be fearful of rejection.
• Thwart institutional cowardice.
• Get used to the bear behind you.

Read the whole list here.