What Did Stanley Kubrick Mean By "The truth of the matter is that you always find two things in life, the good and the bad."?

I remember first coming across this quote while watching a rare interview with Stanley Kubrick from the 1980s. It wasn’t the kind of soundbite that grabbed headlines, but it lingered. It felt like a quiet key to understanding the mind behind 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining. At first glance, it sounds almost sentimental — a tidy platitude about life’s dualities. But in the context of Kubrick’s work, it’s anything but.

The Original Context: A Rare Glimpse Into the Director’s Mind

This particular quote comes from a 1987 interview with The New York Times, conducted by reporter Michiko Kakutani. At the time, Kubrick was famously reclusive, rarely granting interviews and almost never speaking publicly about his films. The piece was part of a rare feature on the director, published just a few years before his death in 1999.

The quote itself appears during a discussion about the moral ambiguity of A Clockwork Orange, a film that had stirred controversy and debate since its release in 1971. Kakutani asked Kubrick about the film’s ending — whether it was meant to be hopeful or cynical. His response included the line: “The truth of the matter is that you always find two things in life, the good and the bad.”

It was a moment of rare clarity from a man who usually cloaked his thoughts in ambiguity — and it offered a window into how he saw the world, and how he wanted his films to reflect that complexity.

What Kubrick Meant: A Philosophy of Duality

Kubrick was never one for simple answers. His films are layered, often contradictory, and deeply philosophical. This quote, then, isn’t just about acknowledging that life has ups and downs. It’s about the coexistence of extremes — especially in the moral and emotional realm.

In A Clockwork Orange, for instance, the protagonist Alex is both a sadistic criminal and a victim of the state’s oppressive control. The ending, where he appears to outgrow his violent impulses, is not a clear-cut redemption arc. It’s ambiguous — and that’s the point. The “good” of personal growth and the “bad” of authoritarian manipulation are both present.

Similarly, in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the evolution of humanity is depicted alongside the cold logic of HAL 9000, the AI that ultimately betrays the crew. The “good” of technological progress and the “bad” of dehumanization coexist. For Kubrick, reality was not a binary — it was a constant negotiation between opposing forces.

The Misreading: A Misplaced Optimism

One of the most common misinterpretations of this quote is that it’s a kind of soft, feel-good message — a reminder that life is balanced, and that every cloud has a silver lining. But Kubrick wasn’t offering comfort. He was describing a fundamental tension.

The quote is often used in motivational contexts, stripped of its original nuance. People cite it as if it’s about finding joy in adversity. But Kubrick’s version of “good and bad” isn’t about optimism versus pessimism. It’s about recognizing that both elements are always present, often in uneasy coexistence.

In The Shining, for example, Jack Torrance is both a loving father and a man descending into madness. There’s no clear line between the good and the bad — they bleed into each other. That’s the real heart of Kubrick’s worldview: life doesn’t divide neatly into binaries. It’s messy, contradictory, and full of paradox.

Why This Quote Still Resonates

In an age of polarized thinking — where we’re often encouraged to take sides, label things as good or evil, and demand moral clarity — Kubrick’s quote feels more relevant than ever. It’s a reminder that reality is rarely that simple.

His films challenge us to sit with discomfort, to hold multiple truths at once. That’s why his work endures. It doesn’t offer easy answers. It asks hard questions.

This quote resonates because it speaks to the complexity of the human experience. We live in a world where beauty and horror, love and violence, hope and despair can all exist in the same breath. Kubrick didn’t shy away from that — he leaned into it.

If you’re curious about how this philosophy shaped his films — and how he saw the world — you can talk to Stanley Kubrick on HoloDream. Ask him about his views on morality, or why he often left his endings so open. You might not get the answers you expect — but you’ll get ones worth thinking about.