Joseph Gordon-Levitt Quotes

He [Mark Webb] is very savvy, technically, he's shot so many videos, he knows how to get what he wants. The surprise, of course, is that he's also an extremely humanistic story-teller. He's obsessed with story and character, and not just making it look right, which is a double-thred that's rare in directors.

There's a long, long history of women suffering abuse, injustice, and not having the same opportunities as men, and I think that's been very detrimental to the human race as a whole.

I really try to make movies as good as I can, and create a convincing character who means something to me and maybe other people. The notion of celebrity is kind of saying, 'All that doesn't matter. We're not interested in the story you're trying to tell. What interests us is you, your name, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, quote-unquote, and who you're dating or what you're eating or…' And to me, that's like, Wow, so you're saying what I love and spend so much time caring about is irrelevant and doesn't matter? Fuck you, too.

When I'm on set, I do whatever I can to find my focus.

His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling.

I think the reason I was able to get the jobs I did is because I worked for some very strong, self-possessed filmmakers who wouldn't listen to the executive-suited wisdom, and they believed in me from director to actor. Not from salesman to commodity.

If the goal is to get the best artists, actors, and filmmakers in the world to create the best movies, Hollywood does a decent job. And I think no one would disagree with me that it also makes a ton of bad movies and employs a bunch of hacks.

Celebrity doesn't have anything to do with art or craft. It's about being rich and thinking that you're better than everybody else.

The traditions of Hollywood are grand and great and are going to survive forever, in a way. But they're not going to be the only way for much longer. The technology is such now that you don't have to have millions of dollars to make a movie. You can make one with a computer.

My personal belief is that everything is always happening all at once.

Kids play pretend. I think that kids can be the best actors.

The Internet is allowing us to get back to what's really more natural, which is that storytelling is a shared thing. It's our natural way to be communal.

Nothing is ever finished. It's a funny thing. I actually think that's really the more natural way of stories or songs.

I don't blame folks for not wanting to put me in their movies or whatever. I understand if their audiences had an association with me.

The only thing I want to do is stuff with people who care about what they're doing.

Your heart has a little empty corner. You won't even know I'm there
I'll be very quiet.

I'd been an actor my whole life, since I was a kid. And then, I quit for awhile and went to university. When I wanted to start acting again, I couldn't get a job, and that was really depressing. So, I realized, at that time, that I have to take responsibility for my own creativity.

Monuments make momentous men immortal, but more memorable are mortal men making mere moments monumental.

Darkness is a lot of what art is and certainly in our community a lot of it is people sort of wrestling with their demons.

Blessed are they that crumble; from them new worlds are made.

If I read our story backwards, it's about how I un-broke your heart, and then we were happy until one day, you forgot about me forever.

Media used to be one way. Everyone else in the world just had to listen. Now the internet is allowing what used to be a monologue to become a dialogue. I think that's healthy.

Most of what Hollywood puts out is crap anyway.

It's just a natural part of being a social creature and being a human being.

I was such a big Dustin Hoffman fan when I was young.

Even today, in our progressive times, in most movies that come out, the men have to have biceps and the women have to be thin or something.

I just love to act. It's my favorite thing to do in the world, and what keeps it interesting, to me, is the creative challenge. So, different kinds of characters, that's what I just love to do.

As soon as you are trying to be funny or dramatic, that's when things start feeling fake and boring.

One day she looked
up and discovered an
opening in her planet.

She wondered if she
wasn't alone after all.

The chemistry and the comfort and trust between two people playing a love story l is key, and to have a friend that I could trust, and whose sensibilities I already understood, made it so much easier, and is a big part of why it all looks natural on screen.

If you do or don't like something it's because of that thing and not because it has the right politics behind them or the right company or the right connections. It's really just about the thing itself.

He loved me.
He loves me not.

I want to keep working with people that care about what they're doing. It seems obvious, but it's not. It's sometimes hard to keep on that track.

In the old days, people would gather around the fire, or they would gather at a tavern, and they'd tell a story. And then, maybe a week later, someone would tell the same story, but with a different twist on it. That's how folk takes evolved.

The poets pinned tragedies
to their chests like ribbons.

Making little videos that you know are going to be on tiny windows is a whole different thing. I don't know what it's going to lead to necessarily, but it's certainly fun.

I'm the last person to tell my friends to go see something I'm in. I could care less if friends of mine never saw anything I'm in.

Real life is not as simple as it is on a screen. I think real life is actually a lot more beautiful.

As an actor, it's always important to understand what the director is after. That, to me, is my job. When I'm acting, I like to ask a lot of questions and understand exactly why the director is doing what they're doing, so that I can provide him or her with the ingredients that they need to get the scene that they want. It's not to challenge them, in any way. It's just so that I can do my job best.

My favorite kinds of movies are the ones that start a conversation.

There's something really appealing about the simplicity of black-and-white images.

The media's about to become a lot more effective.

But I would encourage anyone who has a crush on my character to watch it again and examine how selfish he is.

When I was Younger, I wanted to be something.Now, I just want to be younger.

Why am I doing the work I'm doing? Why am I friends with this person? Am I living the best life I possibly can? Questions are often looked upon as questions of doubt but I don't see it that way at all. I question things to stay present, to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

This is the saddest, most depressing music I've ever heard.
It makes me so happy.

You see a woman on a screen and you reduce her to just a thing, a sex object.

Mapmaker mapmaker
make me a map
one to one scale,
without a single gap.
Map every rock,
every thought, every tree
and erase all the territory.

You usually get one or the other, you get someone who knows how to tell a story but they don't necessarily know about light and camera and rhythm, or you get someone who can make beautiful images but they can't necessarily tell a great story. He[Mark Webb] does both and I think he's going to be one of the film-makers that our time is remembered for.

When I was 20, I went to Paris and tried to meet French women. It didn't work.

I think Hollywood, as it's been, will have to change because the model of Hollywood is "we'll make this content, and you guys buy it," but I don't think that's the future.

I just need some time away to remember why I stay.

The spiral in a snail's shell is the same mathematically as the spiral in the Milky Way galaxy, and it's also the same mathematically as the spirals in our DNA. It's the same ratio that you'll find in very basic music that transcends cultures all over the world.

That is very different from how it used to be in the 20th century. Media was very one way. There's a small little industry. It broadcasted its message and everyone else in the world just had to listen. Now the internet is allowing what used to be a monologue to become a dialogue. I think that's healthy and actually restoring a more natural way.

My mom brought me up to be a feminist. She would always point out to my brother and me that our culture does often portray women like objects.

I think there is something beautiful in reveling in sadness. The proof is how beautiful sad songs can be. So I don't think being sad is to be avoided. It's apathy and boredom you want to avoid. But feeling anything is good, I think. Maybe that's sadistic of me.

I think the dual existence thing is a regular pastime for all human beings, and for that matter anything in this universe.

I never intended to only do dark, serious things.

Well, look who I ran into," crowed Coincidence. "Please," flirted Fate, "this was meant to be.

I was studying for the SAT's and learning lines.

The career stuff is for business people.

Ummm ... well, the only thing I want to do is stuff with people who care about what they're doing, which sounds obvious, but it's really not.

Movies are different from real life.

Normally, it's difficult for me to watch a movie that I'm in.

Genres give a vocabulary. They give a frame of reference for the audience to enter into a movie. Then, once they have their footing, that's when you can start doing things that they don't expect.

Success is not important to me, nor are power or money. If the script feels good, then I'm in. It's that simple.

I think the way the media is going to work in the future is less something that the population consumes and more something that the population creates.

I'm tired of being tired of being tired of being.

The movies I watch and the music I listen to and the books I read - those are important to me. It's very important to me, and I don't know what I would do without those things.

There were memories in that melody.

The most important thing, married or single, is that you can't compare your life to overly simplified fantasy figures on TV, in movies, or in magazines. Every human being is unique. Every relationship is unique. If you're in it, it's your job to find out what's unique about it. I don't think you should be in a relationship and downgrade it because it doesn't look the same as some Hollywood image.

Comedy takes a very specific technique, specific skills.

It's a pretty intuitive process, picking the projects that I want to get involved with.

From my ship, adrift, I spied you.
And I thought you were an island.
Alas, you were an iceberg.

I do call myself a feminist. Absolutely!

Today's a great time to be any creative type of person, I think, and in just about every aspect of creativity, this generation is going to blow away every generation ever. Because we're the first ones with the Internet. I can get together with some friends, shoot a movie, cut it on my laptop at home, and then put it online. We don't have to listen to anyone.

This overwhelming desire to be close to you directly conflicts with my intense fear of people.

We're all beautiful. We all deserve attention.

The truth of actually working on a movie set is that you're in the midst of a logistical nightmare. There are so many things going on. There are many factors that keep your ideal scenario from ever happening. And you're rarely going to get that.

It's HE-RO," the boy argued. "No," the girl insisted, "it's HER-O.

I don't buy into the glory days thing. I think every time has its great things to it. The '60s were such a glorious time but it's easy to forget that there was all sorts of bullshit too.

It's nice to not feel like you're just re-enacting a preconceived moment, but there's room for an organic feeling to develop while the camera is rolling. Even amidst these enormous technical productions, Chris [ Nolan] always prioritized making sure that sort of spontaneous and organic feeling could happen at the moment.

Every day I've got to be thankful that I am alive, and you never know - the cliche is, I guess, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow, so you'd better be at peace with whatever you got going at the moment.

Our culture has a tendency to pigeonhole people and to try to tear down anybody who's breaking out of our comfort zone. That's why we get into these cultural ruts that end up being destructive prejudices. But breaking out of that comfort zone is the most rewarding thing you can do, in your life. I do my best to push myself, when I can.

Certainly the animation technology is growing like crazy. All media technology is.

The most valiant thing you can do as an artist is inspire someone else to be creative.

Stranger than strangers
are lovers estranged.

When I was a teenager I loved acting, but I really just loved it for myself. I didn't like the fact that anyone else saw the work I was doing. When I moved to New York, I started to realize that I wanted people to see the stuff that I was doing, and I wanted it to mean something to them.

The universe is not made up of atoms; it's made up of tiny stories.

The doctor's wife ate two apples a day, just to be safe. But her husband kept coming home.

Actors didn't use to be celebrities. A hundred years ago, they put the theaters next to the brothels.

When I was a teenager, if anyone recognized me for anything I did, it would ruin my day. I couldn't handle it. It was some sort of neurotic phobia. I guess I was paranoid that people would treat me differently, or in an unfair way, because of my job.

I didn't really like doing commercials.

The element of surprise wasn't allowed near the Periodic Table.

If I were to point to the person who's having the greatest impact ... I'd point to Elon Musk.

I don't think action for action's sake is so fun, but when it helps tell the story, I love doing a good fight scene.

She read his letter again &
again 'til she found herself
afloat among the stars.

Once you spend time with [the afflicted], you start recognizing them as individuals, as opposed to lumping them in with everybody else who might have those symptoms.

I mean, movies in general tend to sort of portray time, space and identity as these very solid things. Time moves forward. Space is what it is. You are you, and you're always you.

When you become a ghost
feel free to haunt me.