Joss Whedon famous quotes

Take my love, take my land Take me where I cannot stand I don’t care, I’m still free You can’t take the sky from me Take me out to the black Tell them I ain’t comin’ back Burn the land and boil the sea You can’t take the sky from me There’s no place I can be Since I found Serenity But you can’t take the sky from me…
-- Joss Whedon

#Firefly #Sky #Sea

I love comics, very much, and I love being alone, but I also love the other part. I love actors, and I love filmed entertainment, and that is not something I plan to turn my back on.
-- Joss Whedon

#Love Is #Love Films

I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of.
-- Joss Whedon

#Hipster #Writing #Character

When it comes to the iconic moments, you sort of have to take all of those things and distill them the same way the costumers do and everybod Distill them and then find your own. The most iconic moment in the movie is, assuming they do, when they assemble.
-- Joss Whedon

#Way #Assuming #Moments

Bottom line is, even if you see 'em coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.
-- Joss Whedon

#Inspirational #Strength #Vampire

In production, in the first couple of weeks of production, that it was more like making an internet musical.
-- Joss Whedon

#Couple #Musical #Firsts

Faith in God means believing absolutely in something with no proof whatsoever. Faith in humanity means believing absolutely in something with a huge amount of proof to the contrary. We are the true believers.
-- Joss Whedon

#Believe #Mean #Humanity

I'm more intrigued by things that I haven't really conceived of yet. I have the luxury of being able to think: "I've never done a ballet or an animated film myself." There are certain things that I feel I'd love to. I just want to keep trying new things and seeing if I'm any good at them, and if I'm not, then at least learning that. I definitely think I'm more interested in what medium I can explore right now than any specific story.
-- Joss Whedon

#Thinking #Luxury #Ballet

People feel removed from sexism. 'I'm not a sexist, but I'm not a feminist.' They think there's this fuzzy middle ground. There's no fuzzy middle ground. You either believe that women are people or you don't. It's that simple.
-- Joss Whedon

#Believe #Simple #Thinking

Directing is such alchemy, it's so easy to fail. And I've seen people who are great at their jobs because everybody has a go. Editors, DPs, actors, craft services guy, everybody wants to try it out but it is such a diffuse but necessary set of skills that you never know which one this person might lack.
-- Joss Whedon

#Jobs #Editors #Skills

Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace.
-- Joss Whedon

#Acceptance

Basically that you can do anything. If you pool your resources,and just give up the idea that you're going to act like a normal person or sleep, if you want it hard enough and do it well enough, it happens. A lot of really talented people either sort of get crushed under the wheel of the movie studio system or desperately try and get their next gig in TV. I understand why, because we've all got to put food on the table and the brass ring is out there, we'd all like to be making the Emmy-winning shows and the blockbusters and all that, but at the same time you could be doing stuff yourself.
-- Joss Whedon

#Giving Up #Sleep #Winning

Humor keeps us alive. Humor and food. Don't forget food. You can go a week without laughing.
-- Joss Whedon

#Food #Laughing #Alive

I wish more people would take the extraordinary talent they have and just let their id go because that's what we discovered. We discovered that the sillier we got, the more people believed that we were speaking from our hearts.
-- Joss Whedon

#Heart #People #Wish

Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck.
-- Joss Whedon

#Being Yourself #Individuality #Remember

The thing with the comics is that you have license to go down every alley your brain can think of.
-- Joss Whedon

#Thinking #Brain

Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.
-- Joss Whedon

#Work #Writing #Bad Ass

The comic world has its own limitations, as everything does. I adore it, I respect it, but it's not going to take over all of me.
-- Joss Whedon

#World #Comic #Adore

Very occasionally, if you pay really close attention, life doesn't suck.
-- Joss Whedon

#Attention #Pay

The absolute favorite part of Comic-Con is seeing like a Mass Effect guy hanging out with a Sailor Moon, and they're just having a great time. Nerds, we love what we love with a passion and sometimes it's an angry passion, and to see that all sort of bleed out and everybody just connect
-- Joss Whedon

#Passion #Moon #Guy

Whatever makes you weird is probably your greatest asset.
-- Joss Whedon

#Introvert #Assets

My favorite part of Comic-Con? The groupies. Man, they have loose morals, really. Men, women, I'm just saying that it gets weird on Sunday night. No, that's sadly never happened.
-- Joss Whedon

#Sunday #Night #Men

Loneliness is about the scariest thing out there.
-- Joss Whedon

#Fear #Loneliness #Being Alone

The thing about a hero, is even when it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, he's going to keep digging, he's going to keep trying to do right and make up for what's gone before, just because that's who he is.
-- Joss Whedon

#Determination #Hero #Tunnels

There's a time and place for everything, and I believe it’s called 'fan fiction'.
-- Joss Whedon

#Believe #Fans #Fiction

You are going to change the world, because that is actually what the world is. You do not pass through this life, it passes through you. You experience it, you interpret it, you act, and then it is different. That happens constantly. You are changing the world. You always have been.
-- Joss Whedon

#Different #World #Changing The World

The more power that we have, the less human we are.
-- Joss Whedon

#Humans

Half of writing history is hiding the truth.
-- Joss Whedon

#Truth #Writing #Firefly

The goal is always about the next story. It's always about the thing I haven't done before. It's about learning, or it's about becoming better, and it's about whatever story grabs hold of me.
-- Joss Whedon

#Goal #Stories #Done

People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing #Epic #People

I think Spider-Man [film], the first one particularly, really figured out the formula of, "Oh, tell the story that they told in the comic. It was compelling. That's why it's iconic."
-- Joss Whedon

#Men #Thinking #Spiders

If you can't do something smart, do something right.
-- Joss Whedon

#Smart #Firefly #Morality

When I read [the script] and saw that it was my fanboy wet dream of an Avengers script and that [Agent] Coulson was a big part of it, that was the great day for me. I just drove around the streets with the script in the other seat, giggling.
-- Joss Whedon

#Dream #Great Day #Agents

Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead.
-- Joss Whedon

#Life #Peace #Hurt

I don't know video games.The last video game I played, apart from Dance Dance Revolution at Jeremy's house, which I was very good at - Scarlett [Johansson] and I will always have "Billie Jean" - was Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo. I'm from the Dark Ages.
-- Joss Whedon

#Dark #Games #House

I think everyone who makes movies should be forced to do television. Because you have to finish. You have to get it done, and there are a lot of decisions made just for the sake of making decisions. You do something because it's efficient and because it gets the story told and it connects to the audience.
-- Joss Whedon

#Movie #Thinking #Decision

I wanted to drag Shakespeare from obscurity. I've been a fan my whole life.
-- Joss Whedon

#Fans #Obscurity #Drag

There’s a fine line between support and stalking and let’s all stay on the right side of that.
-- Joss Whedon

#Support #Lines #Sides

I don't think I'm like Shakespeare.
-- Joss Whedon

#Thinking

You either have to write or you shouldn't be writing. That's all.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing

Most people don't see Hamlet as an old bald guy.
-- Joss Whedon

#People #Guy

Science fiction is like a blender - you can put in any historical experience and take influences from everything you see, read or experience.
-- Joss Whedon

#Historical #Fiction #Influence

Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own.
-- Joss Whedon

#Character #Power #Doe

As far as I am concerned, the first episode of Buffy was the beginning of my career. It was the first time I told a story from start to finish the way I wanted.
-- Joss Whedon

#Careers #Firsts #Stories

I tend to tell stories that have a lot of momentum; it's not like 'and then months later...' I like things where the momentum of one action rolls into the next one so everything is the sum of that.
-- Joss Whedon

#Momentum #Stories #Next

I'll take crazy over stupid any day.
-- Joss Whedon

#Crazy #Stupid

He's like Super Librarian, y'know? Everyone forgets, Willow, that knowledge is the ultimate weapon.
-- Joss Whedon

#Weapons #Forget #Librarian

Because it’s no longer enough to be a decent person. It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself.
-- Joss Whedon

#Humanity #News #Enough

The misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who's confronted with it.
-- Joss Whedon

#Men #Soul #Balance

Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction. We live in a space ship, dear.
-- Joss Whedon

#Firefly #Space #Psychics

Don’t give people what they want, give them what they need.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing #People #Giving

You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.
-- Joss Whedon

#Journey #People #Giving

Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.
-- Joss Whedon

#Dark #Tough #God Love

I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see.
-- Joss Whedon

#People #Needs #Want

I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar!
-- Joss Whedon

#Firefly #Wind #Free Spirit

I'm a science fiction geek from birth - that's just who I am.
-- Joss Whedon

#Who I Am #Fiction #Geek

People with real power never fear of losing it. People with control think of little else.
-- Joss Whedon

#Real #Thinking #People

Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books.
-- Joss Whedon

#Latin #Book #Speak

If you think that happiness means total peace, you will never be happy. Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace. It will always be in conflict. If you accept that, everything gets a lot better.
-- Joss Whedon

#Inspirational #Mean #Acceptance

To accept duality is to earn identity.
-- Joss Whedon

#Identity #Accepting #Duality

Identity is something that you are constantly earning.
-- Joss Whedon

#Identity #Earning

Live all of your life. Understand it, see it, appreciate it. And have fun.
-- Joss Whedon

#Fun #Appreciate #Funny Graduation

The stupidest person in the room might have the best idea.
-- Joss Whedon

#Ideas #Might #Rooms

Every vampire fiction reinvents vampires to its own needs. You take what you want.
-- Joss Whedon

#Vampire #Needs #Fiction

You either believe women are people or you don't. It's that simple.
-- Joss Whedon

#Believe #Simple #People

When I say, "I love you," it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman.
-- Joss Whedon

#Boyfriend #Kindness #Love You

If you have a good idea, get it out there. For every idea I’ve realized, I have ten I sat on for a decade till someone else did it first. Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing #Ideas #Firsts

Don't just be yourself. Be all of yourself. Don't just live. Be that other thing connected to death. Be life. Live all of your life. Understand it, see it, appreciate it. And have fun.
-- Joss Whedon

#Graduation #Being Yourself #Fun

Beautiful revelations of power are often written by the guy who got kicked around and didn’t have any power.
-- Joss Whedon

#Beautiful #Guy #Revelations

Actors wait tables, directors work at video stores.
-- Joss Whedon

#Waiting #Directors #Video

Everything is a drug. Family, art, causes, new shoes… We’re all just tweaking our chem to avoid the void.
-- Joss Whedon

#Art #Shoes #Drug

If I find out I have to write today and nothing else, that’s a perfect day. I know a lot of people who are great at it and make it look easy who are tortured and miserable people. Writing for me is perfect peace.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing #People #Perfect

Writers are completely out of touch with reality. Writers are crazy [people]. We create conflict - for a living. We do this all the time, sometimes on a weekly basis, we create horrible, incredible circumstances and then figure a way out of them. That's what we do.
-- Joss Whedon

#Crazy #Reality #People

Don't just be yourself. Be all of your selves.
-- Joss Whedon

#Being Yourself #Self #Just Be Yourself

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn.
-- Joss Whedon

#Two #People #Ironic

I love fantasy. I love horror. I love musicals. Whatever doesn't really happen in life is what I'm interested in. As a way of commenting on everything that does happen in life, because ultimately the only thing I'm really interested in is people.
-- Joss Whedon

#People #Doe #Way

I write to be the characters that I am not.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing #Character

It is the most fun I’m ever going to have. I love to write. I love it. I mean, there’s nothing in the world I like better, and that includes sex, probably because I’m so very bad at it. It’s the greatest peace when I’m in a scene, and it’s just me and the character, that’s it, that’s where I want to live my life.
-- Joss Whedon

#Sex #Fun #Writing

Nowadays I’m really cranky about comics. Because most of them are just really, really poorly written soft-core. And I miss good old storytelling. And you know what else I miss? Super powers. Why is it now that everybody’s like “I can reverse the polarity of your ions!” Like in one big flash everybody’s Doctor Strange. I like the guys that can stick to walls and change into sand and stuff. I don’t understand anything anymore. And all the girls are wearing nothing, and they all look like they have implants. Well, I sound like a very old man, and a cranky one, but it’s true.
-- Joss Whedon

#Girl #Wall #Men

I write for fanboy moments. I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. I write to do all the things the viewers want too. So the intensity of the fan response is enormously gratifying. It means I hit a nerve.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing #Character #Mean

Absolutely eat dessert first. The thing that you want to do the most, do that.
-- Joss Whedon

#Want #Firsts #Dessert

Equality is not a concept. It's not something we should be striving for. It's a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women.
-- Joss Whedon

#Men #Civil Rights #Needs

I think it's not inaccurate to say that I had a perfectly happy childhood during which I was very unhappy.
-- Joss Whedon

#Thinking #Childhood #Unhappy

It's not enough to bash in heads. You've got to bash in minds.
-- Joss Whedon

#Mind #Enough #Bash

Two things that matter to me. Emotional resonance and rocket launchers.
-- Joss Whedon

#Emotional #Two #Matter

Sadly, I hate foreigners. And Americans. And animals. And flora, and some fauna. Also the magma that is the very core of this our mother earth. I'm full o' hate!
-- Joss Whedon

#Mother #Hate #Animal

The times are chaotic. For me, I would hope that people look at [Angel] and gain strength by it. With everything that I do, I hope that they see people struggling to live decent, moral lives in a completely chaotic world. They see how hard it is, how often they fail, and how they get up and keep trying. That, to me, is the most important message I'm ever going to tell.
-- Joss Whedon

#Struggle #Angel #People

Redemption is something you have to fight for in a very personal, down-dirty way. Some of our characters lose that, some stray from that, and some regain it.
-- Joss Whedon

#Dirty #Character #Fighting

Cordelia: I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan. Oz: We attack the Mayor with hummus. Cordelia: I stand corrected. Oz: Just keeping things in perspective.
-- Joss Whedon

#Thinking #Perspective #Vampire

As we all know, blinking lights means science.
-- Joss Whedon

#Mean #Light

In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer.
-- Joss Whedon

#Darkness #Vampire #Generations

Buffy Anne Summers 1981-2001 Beloved sister Devoted Friend She saved the world A lot
-- Joss Whedon

#Summer #World #Beloved

There are some things I can just smell. It's like a sixth sense." "Well, actually, that would be one of the five.
-- Joss Whedon

#Smell #Vampire #Would Be

Ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. Know what the first rule of flying is? Well I s'pose you do, since you already know what I'm 'bout to say. I do. But I like to hear you say it. Love. Can know all the math in the 'verse but take a boat in the air that you don't love? She'll shake you off just as sure as a turn in the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home.
-- Joss Whedon

#Fall #Home #Math

Don't give me songs, give me something to sing about!
-- Joss Whedon

#Song #Giving

That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain. Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it. (to Inara) Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.
-- Joss Whedon

#Girl #Rain #Good Luck

That all you got...Bub?
-- Joss Whedon

All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause – there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once...Even just learning enough about a subject so you can speak against an opponent eloquently makes you an unusual personage. Start with that. Any one of you would have cried out, would have intervened, had you been in that crowd in Bashiqa. Well thanks to digital technology, you’re all in it now.
-- Joss Whedon

#Writing #Technology #Past

I cannot abide useless people.
-- Joss Whedon

#People #Useless

Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there well may not be another. So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don’t push me, and I won’t push you. Dong le ma?
-- Joss Whedon

#Jobs #Firefly #Naughty