Jonathan Demme Quotes
Quotes to Explore
-
I just get really defensive as soon as anyone comes near my personal life. I made a decision early on that it's strictly off-limits. No exceptions.
-
I had done some TV movies that were great experiences but, no, I wasn't looking to do a series.
-
The business part of it can be very vexing. You always have to keep certain metrics and everything. Because all I can do is make a good show.
-
All writers are the same - they forget a thousand good reviews and remember one bad one.
-
I'm an old-fashioned girl, and I didn't believe in living with people, so I guess I married for the wrong reasons at times.
-
Anytime you do something in this arena, whether it's public records or ethics, it's not like throwing a stone in a quiet pond. It's like throwing a boulder.
-
Discipline is wisdom and vice versa.
-
It doesn't matter if people perceive me as being a little strange. I think overall, even when I am on stage, when people see me, I am setting an example.
-
That's why I'm really trying to produce my own stuff. This film was so good, because I produced it myself, and developed it, and made it with New Line, which is a smaller studio, so I was in control of a lot of stuff that I wasn't in control of for my other films.
-
Dave thought he was bigger than Van Halen the band. So there was this catfight going on for 10 years.
-
I never really did any disco dancing.
-
When kids are met with the highest expectations and given the extra supports they need, they can be as motivated as kids anywhere.
-
When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.
-
I think the tone of the show has certainly changed over the years, because it's really, really hard to do something different when you have a show going on as long as this has.
-
I think Barack Obama was born into a home not just to a white woman and white grandparents, but a white woman and white grandparents who shockingly told him it was okay that he was black and that he should not be ashamed of it and that he should, in fact, be proud of it.
-
That's the mantra I use when the team tells me something is too complicated. People keep saying, 'We need more prioritization.' I say, 'Guys, what you want is less work. And that is not going to happen.'
-
I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.
-
You don't master your fear. You're not able to say, 'I'm not going to be scared.' But what you can do is say, 'OK, I'm very very scared, but I have to do this and this and this.'
-
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.
-
The thing that's been inhibiting long-form investigative reporting is fear - fear of being sued, of being unpopular, of being criticized by very powerful groups.
-
I've never been a die-hard fan, like a crazy fan for an artist.
-
We want to control our own destiny and take responsibility for our own outcomes.
-
If you're doing a music film, you've got to be singing about something.
