I think people are very stiff. Money makes people stiff, and we

Hear the fiery yet tender words of John Cassavetes, pioneer of raw cinema and apostle of truth: “I think people are very stiff. Money makes people stiff, and we want it, and we have to pay the penalty. I never agreed with stiffness. I think people have an understanding of what their life is. I define success by being a realist and not humiliating people. I’m a revolutionary—but not in the political sense.” In this vision, he exposes the chains of modern life and declares the freedom of the human spirit: that to live with openness, compassion, and authenticity is the truest revolution.

He speaks first of stiffness, the rigidity that money brings. To chase wealth is to become guarded, fearful, narrow, for money demands conformity and creates anxiety. Men bend their backs under its weight, women silence their voices for its promise, and all too often, humanity is sacrificed at its altar. This is the penalty Cassavetes describes: that in seeking to secure life through wealth, we lose the softness, the honesty, the spontaneity that makes life worth living.

Cassavetes rejected this stiffness, both in art and in life. His films were alive with imperfection, with human flaws and raw emotion. He did not craft polished idols for the screen; he captured stumbling, broken souls, filled with longing and contradiction. In this way he proved his creed—that people already have an understanding of what their life is. They do not need to be lectured, only to be seen truthfully. The work of the artist, then, is not to impose stiffness, but to strip it away, to reveal the trembling heart beneath.

When he speaks of success, he defines it not as riches or applause, but as the courage to be a realist, to face life as it is without cruelty. His standard is simple yet profound: do not humiliate others. In a world where power often builds itself by shaming and diminishing, Cassavetes’ revolution was one of dignity. He measured greatness not by domination but by compassion, not by triumph over others but by respect for their humanity.

History offers us a kindred spirit in Diogenes the Cynic, who scorned wealth and convention, living in a barrel and mocking the stiff manners of Athens. Though seen as mad, his rebellion was not political but personal: to reveal that simplicity, honesty, and freedom of spirit are higher than gold or status. Like Diogenes, Cassavetes declared himself a revolutionary, not with armies or banners, but with life itself, lived against the grain of convention.

Yet his words also contain hope. For though he saw the corruption of money and the stiffness it brings, he believed that people, deep within, already know the truth of their existence. They feel their own reality, their own needs, their own yearning to be free. What they require is not domination, but affirmation; not humiliation, but encouragement to live as they truly are. To nurture this in others is, in Cassavetes’ eyes, the greatest work.

So, O seekers of tomorrow, take this lesson to heart: do not let money make you stiff, nor let fear bind your soul. Define your success not by wealth, but by honesty, kindness, and the refusal to humiliate others. Be a realist, seeing the world as it is, yet refuse to bow to its coldness. Become a revolutionary not with politics, but with compassion and authenticity. For in a world of masks and stiffness, to live openly, warmly, and truthfully is the greatest revolution of all.