Joss Quotes

Xav sprinkled olive oil on his lettuce. 'Lola was very particular that it all had to fit properly.'
'Lola?' squeaked Diamond. I wanted to warn her not to rise to the bait Xav was dangling in front of her but it was too late.
Xav added some Parmesan and pepper. 'Suspicious, Diamond? You should be. This is a bachelor party I'm organizing, not a school outing, and it is going to tick all of Trace's boxes. Lola is either a very efficient water sports instructor or an exotic dancing girl; I'll leave it your imagination.'
I rolled my eyes at Diamond. 'Myabe she's both. I mean the guys will really go for that, I guess. Don't worry,Di, Luigi and his crew will not disappoint us girls.' Luigi was in fact Contessa Nicoletta's little bespectacled chef with whom I had been consulting about the menu for Friday, but the Benedicts weren't to know that. 'He has promised to provide something suitably spicy for our tastes. ~ Joss Stirling

This report is maybe 12-years-old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, 10, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people ... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave. ~ Joss Whedon

I am not a fan of referencing your own work when it's in a different universe than what you're doing. That, to me, is a wink at the audience, and winking isn't actually cool when you're not, like, 10. ~ Joss Whedon

The way a musical can make us feel is unlike anything else, in song and particularly in dance. I think people fly through plate-glass windows when they get shot because movies don't have dance scenes any more. This is what we do instead. ~ Joss Whedon

If you're going to make a science fiction movie, then have a hover craft chase, for God's sake. ~ Joss Whedon

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

Good fantasy fiction: ... explores real human conditions through fantastic metaphors which universalize the characters' individual experiences to speak personally to us all. ~ Laura Resnick

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

I always enjoy conversation more if there is some substance to it - which is a just incredibly hilarious thing for me to say because for many, many years I was the guy whose only contribution to any conversation was, 'There was a funny 'Simpson's' joke about that.' ~ Joss Whedon

You don't need red hooves to be loved! ~ Julia Joss

He sat up in bed, wishing Lily was there. He wouldn't even have needed to touch her, just watching her sleep would have soothed him. Caleb shoved the splayed fingers of his right hand through his hair. He had to go home to Fox Chapel, face Joss, take his place in the family again. He wanted his share of the land and the horses. And he wanted Lily at his side, now and forever. Sweating, ~ Linda Lael Miller

So, why do you write these strong female characters?
Because you're still asking me that question.
[Equality Now speech, May 15, 2006] ~ Joss Whedon

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

Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters ... , then all that matters is what we do. 'Cause that's all there is. What we do. Now. Today. ~ Joss Whedon

I spent an hour getting ready for work, an hour travelling to work, nine hours at work, and an hour travelling home. By the time I got back, I'd be so tired that I'd just eat my dinner, watch some dumbed-down television and browse the internet. I'd fall asleep. Then I'd wake up and repeat the whole process again the next day. Living ~ Joss Sheldon

I'll keep the girl out of trouble," Gray said, in what seemed to him a rather magnanimous gesture. "I'll watch out for her."
"Oh, I've no doubt you will. But who's going to watch out for you?"
Gray's nerves prickled. So, it wasn't the girl Joss was concerned about. No, he expected Gray to cock it all up.
"Right, Joss. I'm an unprincipled, lecherous bastard." He paused, waiting for his brother to argue otherwise.
He didn't.
Gray protested. "She's a governess, for the love of gold. Prim, proper, starched, dull." Soft, he thought in counterpoint. Delicate, sweet. Intriguing.
"Ah. So you'll dally with any chambermaid or serving wench who'll lift her skirts, but you'd draw the line at seducing a governess?"
"Yes. Have a look at me, man." Gray smoothed his brushed velvet lapel, then gestured upward at the banners trimming the freshly tarred rigging. "Look at this ship. I'm telling you, my libertine days are over. I've gone respectable."
"It's easy to change your coat. It's a great deal harder to change your ways. ~ Tessa Dare

If you give yourself too much time, you kind of over-obsess about the music. It's not supposed to be like that. ~ Joss Stone

I like horror; I like comedy; I like drama; I like action; I like female heroes. ~ Joss Whedon

Everything I do in its essence is about helplessness. That's the story I want to tell all the time. It's the story I wanted to live - somebody who appears to be, or is, weak becoming stronger. ~ Joss Whedon

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

Perhaps I won't tire of her," Gray protested, just to be contrary. Because, apparently, that was how brothers behaved.
"Perhaps a dolphin will fly out of your arse. And here's an argument even you can't refuse. Grayson Shipping doesn't need a reputation for delivering damaged goods. You want me to hand George Waltham an impregnated governess?"
"I wouldn't get her with child. Give me that much credit, at least."
"I give you credit for nothing. Let's try this one last time, shall we? You made me this ship's captain. If I'm the captain, what I say goes. And I say you don't touch her. If you can't abide by my orders, take command of the ship yourself and let me go home."
"Go home and do what? Squander your fortune and talent on dirt farming?"
"Go home and take care of my own family. Go home and do what I damn well please, for once."
Cursing, Gray leaned against the wall. He knew Joss would make good on that threat, too. It hadn't been easy, coaxing his brother out of mourning. Gray had resorted to outright bullying just to convince him to take command of the Aphrodite, threatening to cut off his income unless he reported to London as agreed. But he needed Joss, if this shipping concern was to stay afloat. He'd worked too hard, sacrificed too much to see it fail.
And if Joss didn't become a willing partner, it all would have been in vain.
"Stay away from the girl, Gray."
Gray sighed. "We're on the same ship. I can't help but be near her ~ Tessa Dare

I unbuttoned my white shirt and reknotted it under by breasts. I felt like one of those circus 'quick change' acts – ta-dah, no more Wimpy Wendy, now we have Slinky Phee rising from the ashes. ~ Joss Stirling

You think we're dancing?" "That's all we've ever done. ~ Joss Whedon

The Aphrodite's yours, Joss. Take care of her for me."
"Aye, I will." A knowing look passed between them. "I'll look after the ship, too. ~ Tessa Dare

If anyone had told Joss last week that she'd be dry humping a twenty-seven-year-old she'd met only five days prior in the bathroom of the loft above her garage, she'd have committed them for psychiatric evaluation. But here she was and she could not get enough.
Her body throbbed with need. Maybe she needed committing? ~ Amy Andrews

Everything I write tends to turn into a superhero team, even if I didn't mean for it to. I always start off wanting to be solitary, because a) it's simpler, and b) that isolation is something that I relate to as a storyteller. And then no matter what, I always end up with a team. ~ Joss Whedon

What 'Scream' was great at was presenting ironic detachment and then making you actually care about the people that were having it, and juxtaposing it with their situation, all in the service of making a great horror movie. It was fresh. ~ Joss Whedon

What are we going to blow up?"
Morgan sighed happily and slapped joss on the back. " Kid ... you just said my seven favorite words. ~ Heather Brewer

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

Joss would come to understand that this position - respecting, admiring, and identifying with women while acknowledging the objectifying influence of the male gaze - helped him create female characters that worked and connected with an audience. "You can't write from a political agenda and make stories that are in any way emotional or iconic. You have to write it from a place that's a little dark, that has to do with passion and lust and things you don't want to talk about. ~ Amy Pascale

I became a new person; sucked into the neutrality of the abyss, comforted by social norms, and set free from the burden of individuality. ~ Joss Sheldon

What I do like is hiking. And that's what filmmaking is. It's a hike. It's challenging and exhausting, and you don't know what the terrain is going to be or necessarily even which direction you're going in ... but it sure is beautiful. ~ Joss Whedon

I've just had a really evil idea."
"My favourite kind ~ Joss Stirling

Okay, uh, I'm lost. I'm angry. And I'm armed. ~ Joss Whedon

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

I like to dip in and out of all sorts of different things. God, if I was asked to be in a show, like a real show, I would be so up for doing that. ~ Joss Stone

The no-kiss rule starts when we're home and I've found you a class,' Sky said smugly. 'Read the small print.'
Zed folded his arms and pushed back his empty plate. 'She won't last. ~ Joss Stirling

I never told her I loved her. What an ass I am. No wonder she left. I mean, I told her in a dozen different ways, but I never said the words."
"Are they so hard to say?"
"Yes, but ... I don't know. They shouldn't be." Gray shook his head. "Do you know, that fifteen-year-old boy had the courage to say in front of the whole crew what I couldn't bring myself to whisper in the dark? He'll make a fine officer someday, Davy Linnet. Got bigger stones than either of us, I'd wager."
Joss snorted. "Speak for yourself. ~ Tessa Dare

If somebody comes up to me, it's because they're moved by something I'm moved by. I've never taken a job I didn't love ... So when somebody's coming up to me, or they're writing, they're in the same space I am in. ~ Joss Whedon

Angelus: Now that's everything, huh? No weapons ... No friends ... No hope. Take all that away ... and what's left? Buffy: Me. ~ Joss Whedon

This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off
the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths-just because they
can't think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my
Avengers idea that I made up myself ~ Joss Whedon

I shook my head, folding my arms around my waist. He was wrong; he was the one offering fairy dust, Peter Pan offering to carry me off to the Neverland of soulfinders and happily ever after. But he was too late. Last night i had to grew up and I now knew that such dreams did not exist; real life was more like living with Captain Hook's mercenary pirates than playing happy families in a treehouse ~ Joss Stirling

If I wrote what I really think, I would be so sad all the time. We create to fill a gap - not just to avoid the idea of dying, it's to fill some particular gap in ourselves. ~ Joss Whedon

Now, grip the bull tight with your thighs." She dutifully tensed her thighs. "Not tense. Grip. Real hard with your whole thigh." His voice dropped, his lips pressing in closer to her ear as he murmured, "I know you know how to do that."
A surge of heat shot from her core. Didn't he know she was having a hard enough time sitting on the damn thing as it was without sexual innuendo messing with her equilibrium? She shot him a don't-make-me-get-off-this-thing look but gripped.
Hard.
"Atta girl," he whispered.
Joss gritted her teeth. "Don't push your luck, cowboy. ~ Amy Andrews

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

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

No thanky-you; you can't overcome hatred with more hatred. Force can kill the liar but not the lie, the hater but not the hate, and the violent but not the violence. Hate begets hate, violence begets violence, and war begets war. ~ Joss Sheldon

I never pay a fortune for clothes. ~ Joss Stone

Vampire Willow: "Bored now. ~ Joss Whedon

Remember to always be yourself. ~ Joss Whedon

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, and 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. We need equality. Kinda now. ~ Joss Whedon

I guess this year I'm going to find out if I'm good enough or not. If I'm not, I don't care. I'll do something else, it's not a biggie. ~ Joss Stone

It's like, 'You're not allowed to change. That's not fair. We like you like this.' But I don't. So let me expand and express myself. ~ Joss Stone

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

Which one was it? He'll pay for it with his life, I swear to you."
"Settle down, Gray. And for God's sake, don't go punching yourself in the eye just to even the score."
Gray shot him a look. "Not amusing, Joss."
"Oh yes, it is. Give me credit for a joke when I make one. It's nothing, Gray. I've had worse. You've given me worse. And it's no more than a man can expect, I suppose, when he's an alleged pirate."
"Piracy charges." Gray cracked his neck. "What a joke." This was the voyage he'd finally gone respectable, and what had it gotten him? Jilted and jailed. No good deed went unpunished. ~ Tessa Dare

Sarah Michelle Gellar's made some really good choices. She's had some bad breaks. She goes with the independent, interesting young filmmakers and then they get slammed, like 'Southland Tales.' I'm proud of what she's trying to do. It's hard. ~ Joss Whedon

I'm feeling pretty spectacular right now,' I admitted.
'You are pretty spectacular,' he agreed. ~ Joss Stirling

Xavier, you have given me more grey hairs than all my sons put together.' Saul frowned, then corrected himself. 'To be fair, you and Zed. Just try not to add to them tonight. ~ Joss Stirling

"'Come on, guys, I'm the leader of a whole movie ... !' I tell when I want people to fear and respect me. Not wildly effective." ~ Joss Whedon

Xav!
Got you. Not letting you go.
I realised I wasn't alone in mental deep space; he had always been there and could pilot me home. ~ Joss Stirling

My first Comic-Con was when I first met Joss Whedon: He introduced me to that world and I'd never been to a convention before that. He and a bunch of the 'Buffy' and 'Angel' writers were all going down in a big van and he invited me along. ~ Nathan Fillion

The mythology warped and twisted back along itself until Buffy Summers, the girl who once railed against the unfairness of being Chosen, looked at a squadron of girls who were just like she'd been and took away their right to Choose. ~ Seanan McGuire

Her face lit up; illuminated by the enlightenment of recognition and the innocence of surprise. ~ Joss Sheldon

I set out in television with one simple goal: to purchase a Russian bride. Didn't work out. Immigration stuff - it's complicated. ~ Joss Whedon

Let's go eat turkey before I beat the crap put of my cousin.
The way he said it, Vlad wasn't sure if Henry wanted to eat instead of beating Joss to a pulp, or if he just didn't want to do it on an empty stomach. ~ Heather Brewer

I was not popular in school, and I was definitely not a ladies' man. And I had a very painful adolescence, because it was all very strange to me. It wasn't like I got beat up, but the humiliation and isolation, and the existential 'God, I exist, and nobody cares' of being a teenager were extremely pronounced for me. ~ Joss Whedon

I'm very much more interested in the created family than I am in actual families. ~ Joss Whedon

I never give up on anything, because you come back around, and suddenly the thing you thought you'd never do is relevant. ~ Joss Whedon

I love TV in a way that I don't love any other medium. ~ Joss Whedon

But I think mostly it's your eyes. I want something from them no one else gets from them.'
'And what's that?' I asked, my voice low, almost hoarse. His words had affected me as deeply as any aphrodisiac.
'Soft.' His own voice had deepened with the highly sexual atmosphere. 'Soft the way only a woman's can be after she's come for me. ~ Samantha Young

When will it begin, anyway?"
Sirus held his gaze for a moment, his eyes full of concern- a concern that Joss didn't understand.
"Probably sooner than you're ready for."
"When's that?"
"Well." Sirus sighed, as if doing the math in his head."It'll take us about three minutes to gather this stuff and get to the cabin, and another two or three for Abraham to realize you're here. So I'd say you have about seven more minutes of freedom left. ~ Heather Brewer

Are you all right?"
"Oh my god! I phased!"
"Are you all right?"
"Are you?"
"It was strange."
"I can't believe I phased just then! That's never ... it was totally your fault."
"I like to think so, yes."
"Tee hee. ~ Joss Whedon

Sorry, kid. Whedon got it wrong. Stakes don't kill vampires, they just give us heartburn. ~ Brian K. Vaughan

Wisdom you speak, Obi Tina.'
'None of that - I'm the one who gets to speak backwards - no, we're both wrong - that's the little green guy, Yoda.'
'You're right. So I just get to pout and act badly when you try and teach me anything.'
'Try channelling Luke rather than Annakin - the outcome is better. ~ Joss Stirling

People used to laugh that academics would study Disney movies. There's nothing more important for academics to study, because they shape the minds of our children possibly more than any single thing. ~ Joss Whedon

You have half our gifts. I the other. Together we make a whole. Together we are much more powerful. ~ Joss Stirling

You know, the thing that I do to waste time is think of things I want to make. That's how my mind is employed. ~ Joss Whedon

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

Ah, you are one of those intellectual girls who like to be admired for their brains rather than their beauty? ~ Joss Stirling

A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend ~ Joss Whedon

We need narrative; it feeds us in a particular way, and deconstructing it completely before you've actually experienced it, I think it leaves us unfed. ~ Joss Whedon

Mr. Grayson was just…explaining the workings of the ship." She attempted to tug her hand from Gray's grasp, shooting him a pained look when he refused to relinquish his prize.
Gray said smoothly, "Actually, we were discussing debts. Miss Turner still owes me her fare, and I-"
"And I told you, you'll have it today." Beneath that abomination of a skirt wrapped about his leg, she planted her heel atop his booted toe and transferred all her weight onto it. Firmly. Once again, Gray regretted trading his old, sturdy boots for these foppish monstrosities. Her little pointed heel bit straight through the thin leather.
With a tight grimace, Gray released her hand. He'd been about to say, and I have her handkerchief to return. But just for that, he wouldn't.
"Good afternoon, then." A sweet smile graced her face as she stomped down on his foot again, harder. Then she turned and flounced away.
He made an amused face at Jonas. "I think she likes me."
"In my cabin, Gray."
Gray gritted his teeth and followed Joss down the hatch. Whether he liked being Gray's half brother or not, Joss was damn lucky right now that he was. Gray wouldn't have suffered that supercilious command for any bond weaker than blood.
"You gave me your word, Gray."
"Did I? And what word was that?"
Joss tossed his hat on the wood-framed bed and stripped off his greatcoat with agitated movements. "You know damn well what I mean. You said you wouldn't pursue Miss Turner. No ~ Tessa Dare

I don't write just to be clever. But sometimes I do. And if you don't have an understanding of the language, then the way in which it's bent doesn't actually register. It's the old you-gotta-paint-like-them-before-you-can-paint-like-you thing. ~ Joss Whedon

And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same. ~ Daphne Du Maurier

Old and frail my ass. There's no more vital sexagenarian, thought Joss, smiling to herself and realizing how much her grandmother would appreciate the pun. ~ Tabou I Jocelyn I

If Zed had not had witnesses he would have given her the shock of her life by kissing that furious look off her face. ~ Joss Stirling

I don't understand why or how anyone ever pulled off the whole idea of 'women are inferior.' ~ Joss Whedon

You lit me up like Vegas ~ Joss Stirling

My favorite part of Comic-Con? The groupies. ~ Joss Whedon

It was Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the television series, 1997-2003, not the lackluster movie that preceded it) that blazed the trail for Twilight and the slew of other paranormal romance novels that followed, while also shaping the broader urban fantasy field from the late 1990s onward.

Many of you reading this book will be too young to remember when Buffy debuted, so you'll have to trust us when we say that nothing quite like it had existed before. It was thrillingly new to see a young, gutsy, kick-ass female hero, for starters, and one who was no Amazonian Wonder Woman but recognizably ordinary, fussing about her nails, her shoes, and whether she'd make it to her high school prom. Buffy's story contained a heady mix of many genres (fantasy, horror, science-fiction, romance, detective fiction, high school drama), all of it leavened with tongue-in-cheek humor yet underpinned by the serious care with which the Buffy universe had been crafted. Back then, Whedon's dizzying genre hopping was a radical departure from the norm-whereas today, post-Buffy, no one blinks an eye as writers of urban fantasy leap across genre boundaries with abandon, penning tender romances featuring werewolves and demons, hard-boiled detective novels with fairies, and vampires-in-modern-life sagas that can crop up darn near anywhere: on the horror shelves, the SF shelves, the mystery shelves, the romance shelves. ~ Ellen Datlow

Always be yourself... unless you suck. ~ Joss Whedon

But if you, as an independent filmmaker or a 'serious' filmmaker, think you put more love into your characters than the Russo Brothers do Captain America, or Joss Whedon does the Hulk, or I do a talking raccoon, you are simply mistaken. ~ James Gunn

My fears had blinded me to the prize i was about to throw away. ~ Joss Stirling

Follow me. Yves held out a hand, expecting me to take it.
I had had enough of being pushed about, towed here,
shoved there. Lead the way, O master.
He raised an eyebrow at my sarcasm. Glad to see you
have seen the light. I only want what's best for you.
Mr Arrogant or what?
I don't mean it like that. He shook his head, telling
himself off. I just want to make this right but I seem to be
doing it all wrong.
Then let me go.
That would be a tragedy. Give me a chance here.
Please. ~ Joss Stirling

A great scientist is more open to a new idea than almost anybody. ~ Joss Whedon

Something like 'Much Ado' happens, and even 'Avengers' happens because of the years of building connections and doing the work and proving yourself. ~ Joss Whedon

I picked up the Joss Stone album, Josh Groban, and the new Norah Jones. I love, love, love Norah. ~ Deborah Cox

I like Victorian children's novels extremely a lot. If I would say I collect anything, that's what I'll hunt for now and again at old book stores. ~ Joss Whedon

I wanted out of my record deal with EMI. They wanted me to record one type of album; I wanted to record the type of music I wanted to make. ~ Joss Stone

I've been in this business for a long while, but it's not like I've been waiting tables. Since I started writing, I've only worked on things that I love. I've had a lot of heartbreak, but you don't become an artist and not expect that. ~ Joss Whedon