George Lucas Quotes

If I had time and a hammer, I'd track down every bootleg copy and smash it. ~ George Lucas

There's no difference between movies and television. None at all. Except in a lot of cases, television's much better than movies. ~ George Lucas

Young people don't have a fantasy life anymore, not the way we did. All they've got is Kojak and Dirty Harry. There's all these kids running around wanting to be killer cops. ~ George Lucas

I felt that one of the major issues in the third film is that Luke is finally on his own and has to fight Vader and the Emperor by himself. If you get a sense that Yoda or Ben is there to help him or to somehow influence him, it diminishes the power of the scene. ~ George Lucas

I think crossing into the digital age is the big move for the industry. I think it will be the biggest thing that's happened while I've been making movies. I equate it to the invention of color or sound, and I don't see any other major technical process coming along and changing that. ~ George Lucas

There wasn't much as a kid that inspired me in what I did as an adult, but I was always very interested in what motivates people, and in telling stories and building things. ~ George Lucas

You should own stuff, but make sure they are indispensable stuff. A family of three can simplify to the point of owning just three beds, two couches, three dressers, one table, few chairs, one desk, eight plates, eight glasses, eight bowls and some toys and books for the kids. ~ George Lucas

No," Yoda said impatiently. "Try not. Do, do. Or do not. There is no try." Luke closed his eyes. He tried to envision the contours, ~ George Lucas

You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle. ~ George Lucas

You don't know how hard I found it, signing the order to terminate your life ~ George Lucas

Most artists, most painters, even composers would want to come back and redo their work. They've got a new perspective on it, they've got more resources, they have better technology, and they can fix or finish the things that were never done. ~ George Lucas

You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead. ~ George Lucas

Digital technology is the same revolution as adding sound to pictures and the same revolution as adding color to pictures. Nothing more and nothing less. ~ George Lucas

No one can ever make you feel inferior without your permission, Tory. Don't give it to them. Realize that it's their own insecurities that make them attack you and others. They're so unhappy with themselves that the only way they can feel better is by making everyone as unhappy as they are. Don't let those people steal your day, baby. You hold your head high and know that you have the one thing they can never take away from you. (Theo)
What's that, Papa? (Tory)
My love. Your mother's love and the love of your family and true friends. Your own self-respect and sense of purpose. Look at me, Torimou, people laugh at me all the time and say that I'm chasing rainbows. They told George Lucas that he was a fool for making Star Wars – they used to even call it Lucas's Folly. Did he listen? No. And if he'd listened to them you wouldn't have had your favorite movie made and think of how many people would never have heard the phrase 'May the Force be With You.' (Theo) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

As a group, we are stronger than we are as individuals. We start to think we want everything for ourselves and we don't want to help anybody else. We want to succeed, but we don't want anybody else to succeed, because we want to be the winner. ~ George Lucas

Who's the more foolish; the fool, or the fool who follows him? ~ George Lucas

Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view. ~ George Lucas

For the third trilogy, I don't know if I will still be alive when it comes the time to make them. ~ George Lucas

I regret not the things I have done, only those I have yet to do. ~ George Lucas

I've always been a follower of silent movies. I see film as a visual medium with a musical accompaniment, and dialogue is a raft that goes on with it. ~ George Lucas

When my films don't work it's usually because I tried some very experimental idea. I tried new ideas and they just didn't work, as opposed to trying to do something conventional and having it be so conventional nobody wanted to see it. ~ George Lucas

We seemed to be drifting as a society - losing touch with the basic concepts of right and wrong. ~ George Lucas

A talent is a combination of something you love a great deal and something you can lose yourself in - something that you can start at 9 o'clock, look up from your work and it's 10 o'clock at night. ~ George Lucas

In my experience, there's no such thing as luck. ~ George Lucas

Ultimately the Force is the larger mystery of the universe. And to trust your feelings is your way into that. ~ George Lucas

From the outset, I conceived Star Wars as a series of six films, or two trilogies. ~ George Lucas

No film ever ends up exactly as you would like it to, but with minor exceptions, THX came out pretty much as I had visualized it, thanks to some excellent assistance
and a whole lot of luck. ~ George Lucas

Anybody that makes films knows the film is never finished. It's abandoned or it's ripped out of your hands, and it's thrown into the marketplace, never finished. It's a very rare experience where you find a filmmaker who says, "That's exactly what I wanted. I got everything I needed. I made it just perfect. I'm going to put it out there." ~ George Lucas

George Lucas is the reason that we got to make this movie, you know, he was the man that created this whole galaxy, and I am incredibly grateful to him. He's an artist and he's a grown-up. And I take him at his word, and it doesn't mean I agree with everything he says, but I respect, you know, his right to his opinion. ~ J.J. Abrams

I've heard youngsters use some of George Lucas' terms––"the Force and "the dark side." So it must be hitting somewhere. It's a good sound teaching, I would say.

The fact that the evil power is not identified with any specific nation on this earth means you've got an abstract power, which represents a principle, not a specific historical situation. The story has to do with an operation of principles, not of this nation against that. The monster masks that are put on people in Star Wars represent the real monster force in the modern world. When the mask of Darth Vader is removed, you see an unformed man, one who has not developed as a human individual. What you see is a strange and pitiful sort of undifferentiated face.

Darth Vader has not developed his humanity. He's a robot. He's a bureaucrat, living not in terms of himself but of an imposed system. This is the threat to our lives that we all face today. Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes? How do you relate to the system so that you are not compulsively serving it? . . . The thing to do is to learn to live in your period of history as a human being ...[b]y holding to your own ideals for yourself and, like Luke Skywalker, rejecting the system's impersonal claims upon you.

Well, you see, that movie communicates. It is in a language that talks to young people, and that's what ~ Joseph Campbell

The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie. ~ George Lucas

As a matter of fact, that was a bit of a problem for me at the beginning of my career - the problem of identification. In The Conversation I played a character who was gay, so nobody recognised me from American Graffiti. When I did Apocalypse Now, after Star Wars, I played an intelligence officer of the American army. George Lucas saw the footage I had done and didn't recognise me until halfway through the scene. ~ Harrison Ford

I wanted to transfer to an art school, and ended up going to the University of Southern California. They had a cinematography school, and I said "Well, that's sort of like photography, maybe that will be interesting." And once I started in that department, I found what it was that I loved and was good at. ~ George Lucas

I thought it [Star Wars] was too wacky for the general public. Right or wrong this is my movie, this is my decision, and this is my creative vision, and if people don't like it, they don't have to see it. ~ George Lucas

It took me three, four years, to get from my first film to my second film, banging on doors, trying to get people to give me a chance. Writing, struggling, with no money in the bank, working as an editor on the side. Working as a cameraman on the side. Getting little jobs, eking out a living. Trying to stay alive, and pushing a script that nobody wanted. ~ George Lucas

I don't know when the last time was that Steven Spielberg or George Lucas made a movie with Universal, but I can tell you that Universal is leading the charge. They're looking at film differently. They're planning ahead in a way that I've never seen a studio do before. They're believing in a relationship between fan and film franchise, in a new way. They're more receptive to an audience, in part because of social media, in a way we've never been allowed. ~ Vin Diesel

You need peers; you need people who are at the same level you are. You never know in life when you're going to need help, and you never know who you're going to need it from. ~ George Lucas

Do or do not, there is no try. ~ George Lucas

Even in high school I was very interested in history - why people do the things they do. As a kid I spent a lot of time trying to relate the past to the present. ~ George Lucas

All art is dependent on technology because it's a human endeavour, so even when you're using charcoal on a wall or designed the proscenium arch, that's technology. ~ George Lucas

Art is the retelling of certain themes in a new light, making them accessible to the public of the moment. ~ George Lucas

I like Star Wars, it's fun and I enjoy doing it. But it's definitely not my life. I'm a bigger movie fan than I am Star Wars fan. I like making movies. ~ George Lucas

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. ~ George Lucas

Mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults that we would like. It's the only way we grow. ~ George Lucas

I'm very proud of all the movies I made. I am very happy with everything I've done. I like to watch my movies. Some of them work. Some of them don't. Some of them people like, most of them they don't. ~ George Lucas

A movie is never finished, only abandoned. ~ George Lucas

I'm moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff. ~ George Lucas

It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of the Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell - three trilogies - and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to make the middle story. ~ George Lucas

There should be a point to movies. Sure, you're giving people a diversion from the cold world for a bit, but at the same time, you pass on some facts and rules and maybe a little bit of wisdom. ~ George Lucas

I am a giant proponent of giant screens. But I accept the fact that most of my movies are going to be seen on phones. ~ George Lucas

The one way the world hasn't changed: teaching is still the most important job. ~ George Lucas

Everybody has talent, it's just a matter of moving around until you've discovered what it is. ~ George Lucas

I'd be the first person to say I can't write dialogue. My dialogue is very utilitarian and is designed to move things forward. I'm not Shakespeare. It's not designed to be poetic. ~ George Lucas

The secret is just to not give up hope. It's very hard not to, because if you're really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side. And you just have to hang in through that." ~ George Lucas ~ Vanessa Moore

A lot of people like to do certain things, but they're not
that good at it. Keep going through the things that you like
to do, until you find something that you actually seem to be
extremely good at. It can be anything. ~ George Lucas

My agent set up a meeting with George Lucas. They were casting in England. ~ David Prowse

Heroes come in all sizes, and you don't have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It's just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibi lity for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people-these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives. ~ George Lucas

I guess I feel like it's a gift to meet those talented artists like George Lucas and Oliver Stone, Spike Lee and Richard Kelly. Even if it's a small role, it's a gift to be working that closely with them. ~ Bai Ling

All the religions are true, they just see a different part of the elephant. ~ George Lucas

I like racing. I love the speed and I'm a very kinetic person in terms of filmmaking. I love the movement of film more than anything else. ~ George Lucas

I don't like you, either. C-3PO ~ George Lucas

As the workplace becomes more specialized, from offices to medical centers to factories, teams of people must accomplish their work by collaborating with each other. In my work in filmmaking, we need talented individuals with technical skills, but their abilities to communicate and work with others are just as valuable. ~ George Lucas

That had always been my purpose: to get people back in touch with what makes us so valuable as a human race. ~ George Lucas

If you want to be successful in a particular field or endeavor, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities. It's very important that you find something that you care about, that you have a deep passion for, because you're going to have to devote a lot of your life to it. ~ George Lucas

Human nature means battling constantly between being completely self-absorbed and trying to be a communal creature. Nature makes you a communal creature. The ultimate single-minded, self-centered creature is a cancer cell. And mostly, we're not made up of cancer cells. ~ George Lucas

If this were a fantasy world, there would be ten of me and we would each be doing what we wanted to do. ~ George Lucas

You can't win, Darth. Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. ~ George Lucas

'American Graffiti' was unpleasant because of the fact that there was no money, no time, and I was compromising myself to death. ~ George Lucas

One of the amazing things about 'Seven Samurai' is that there are a lot of characters. And considering you have so many, and they all have shaved heads, and you've got good guys and bad guys and peasants, you get to understand a lot of them without too much being said. ~ George Lucas

Working hard is very important. You're not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard. ~ George Lucas

I was afraid that science-fiction buffs and everybody would say things like, 'You know, there's no sound in outer space.' ~ George Lucas

I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public. ~ George Lucas

I wanted to make abstract films that are emotional, and I still do. ~ George Lucas

If you can tune into the fantasy life of an 11-year-old girl, you can make a fortune in this business. ~ George Lucas

All of my films have been very hard to understand at the script stage because they're very different. At the time I did them they were not conventional. The executives could only think in terms of what they'd already seen. It's hard for them to think in terms of what has never been done before. ~ George Lucas

One thing about 'Star Wars' that I'm really proud of is that it expands the imagination. That's why I like the 'Star Wars' toys. ~ George Lucas

Each time I do a trilogy it's ten years out of my life. I'll finish Episode III and I'll be 60. And the next 20 years after that I want to spend doing something other than Star Wars. If at 80 I'm still lively and having a good time and think I can work for another 10 years between 80 and 90, I might consider it. But don't count on it. There's nothing written, and it's not like I'm completing something. I'd have to start from scratch. The idea of a third trilogy was more of a media thing than it was me. ~ George Lucas

The older you get, the less seriously you take criticism. I've gotten to a point now where I ignore it completely. It's just not relevant to me anymore. ~ George Lucas

Whatever has happened in my quest for innovation has been part of my quest for immaculate reality. ~ George Lucas

The way I define 'intelligent design' is that when people started out, we wanted to make sense of the world we lived in, so we created stories about how things worked. ~ George Lucas

My life is making movies. I like storytelling, and I've got a lot of stories that are stored up in my head that I hope to get out before my time is up. ~ George Lucas

The young Lucas may have been ambivalent about movies, but there was one entertainment, in fact one place, he was very passionate about. "I loved Disneyland," Lucas said - and so, it seemed, did George Lucas Sr., who flew the entire family to southern California to be there for the park's opening day in July 1955.81 ~ Brian Jay Jones

You can find people who have discovered the fact that it's really helping people, it's really being compassionate toward other human beings that makes you happy, that gives you a spiritual fulfillment - a kind of fulfillment that goes way beyond anything you can buy. ~ George Lucas

We're a couple of shooting stars, Biggs, and we'll never be stopped. ~ George Lucas

I'd like to see education play a larger role in our daily lives, have people come to a larger understanding - a "bigger picture" understanding - of how we fit into the world, and how we fit into the universe. Not necessarily thinking of ourselves, but thinking of others. ~ George Lucas

The influence of 'Hidden Fortress' comes up a lot because it was printed in a book once. The truth is, the only thing I was inspired by was the fact that it's told from the point of view of two peasants, who get mixed up with a samurai and princess and a lot of very high-level people. ~ George Lucas

George Lucas was casting about and had heard favourable things about my work in Clockwork Orange and asked me to come in, which of course I did even though no one knew what the film was about! ~ David Prowse

I was always extremely curious about why people did the things they do. ~ George Lucas

There is no why. We are. Life is beyond reason. ~ George Lucas

To be renewed is everything. What more could one ask for than to have one's youth back again? ~ George Lucas

You try to get yourself into a situation where you only have to answer to yourself, where you can ask advice of people and work with your peers and mentors and things to try to do the best job that you can possibly do. ~ George Lucas

When you are a beginning film maker you are desperate to survive. The most important thing in the end is survival and being able to get to your next picture. ~ George Lucas

I like to say that films are never finished, they're only abandoned. ~ George Lucas

When I was making 'Star Wars,' I wasn't restrained by any kind of science. I simply said, 'I'm going to create a world that's fun and interesting, makes sense, and seems to have a reality to it.' ~ George Lucas

But George Lucas is carrying about Black actors, about Black men, about Black history, which really incorporates and tells all of history. You can't take one race out without eliminating every other race if you're going to tell the story of the human race. ~ Terrence Howard

I'm lucky enough that there is never a blank canvas in front of me ... I have hundreds of projects that I want to do but I am running out of time. ~ George Lucas

Nooo! Leave that to George Lucas, he' s really mastered the CGI acting. That scares me! I hate it! Everybody is so pleased and excited by it. Animation is animation. Animation is great. But it's when you're now taking what should be films full of people, living thinking, breathing, flawed creatures and you're controlling every moment of that, it's just death to me. It's death to cinema, I can't watch those Star Wars films, they're dead things. ~ Terry Gilliam

I think one of the reasons that Steven (Spielberg) and I have been as successful as we have is because we like the movies. We like to go to the movies. We enjoy movies and we want to make movies like the ones we enjoy. ~ George Lucas

I got a bad feeling about this."
―Han Solo, before the walls of the trash compactor start to close in ~ George Lucas

[The USA in the '70s] The country's cinematic output was appropriately bleak, reflecting the moroseness and self-hatred that riddled the national psyche. Anti-heroes such as Bonnie and Clyde, Travis Bickle, Popeye Doyle and the Corleones dominated the box office and the public wallowed in a morass of guilty introspection. There was never a country in more desperate need of a blow job than the United States of America: enter George Lucas. ~ Simon Pegg