It`s harder for me to go back to Mexico right now, simply & basically for safety. It is sad for me but it would be quite irresponsible because I`m responsible for other`s lives (his family) and can not afford to leave them fatherless

I remember the worst experience of my life, even above the kidnapping of my father, was shooting Mimic (1997) [del Toro`s first Hollywood feature, in 1997, which was severely compromised by producer interference]. Because what was happening to me and the movie was far more illogical than kidnapping, which is brutal, but at least there are rules. Now when I look at Mimic, what I see is the pain of a deeply flawed creature that could have been so beautiful.

Aside from being a perfect Hellboy, he is a gentleman, a friend to die for, a great actor and - for the ladies - he has the sexiest male voice this side of Barry White. What more can one ask for? - On Ron Perlman, 2002

These shots are not eye-candy, they are, to me, eye-protein. - regarding Laberinto del fauno, El (2006)

When you have the intuition that there is something which is there, but out of the reach of your physical world, art and religion are the only means to get to it.

The sign of a true friendship is when you can forgive success.

It would be a cliché to say that, because I am a Mexican, I see death in a certain way. But I have seen more than my share of corpses, certainly more than the average First World guy. I worked for months next to a morgue that I had to go through to get to work. I`ve seen people being shot; I`ve had guns put to my head; I`ve seen people burnt alive, stabbed, decapitated ... because Mexico is still a very violent place. So I do think that some of that element in my films comes from a Mexican sensibility.