Roger Ebert
All but a very few of us are in debt. We exist as entities who borrow money and spend the rest of our lives making interest payments on a debt tally that never seems to budge. Whatever wealth we have, in labor, property or cash, is suctioned to the top.
We exist to have our wealth moved up the economic chain out of our reach.
One of the weapons Marvel used in its climb to comic-book dominance was a willingness to invent new characters at a dizzying speed. There are so many Marvel universes, indeed, that some superheroes do not even exist in one another's worlds, preventing gridlock.
What a terrible thing it would be to be the Pope! What unthinkable responsibilities to fall on your shoulders at an advanced age! No privacy. No seclusion. No sin.
Anyone who reads advice books about romance has one problem to begin with: bad taste in literature.
The idea that a book can advise a woman how to capture a man is touchingly naive. Books advising men how to capture a woman are far less common, perhaps because few men are willing to admit to such a difficulty. For both sexes, I recommend a good novel, offering scenarios you might learn from, if only because they reflect a lot of doubt.
' The Lucky One' is at its heart a romance novel, elevated however by Nicholas Sparks' persuasive storytelling. Readers don't read his books because they're true, but because they ought to be true.
Why are some people bullied? Because they are different. How? It doesn't matter.
Teaching prejudice to a child is itself a form of bullying. You've got to be taught to hate.
Growing up, I missed the whole 'Three Stooges' thing. Either they weren't on the station in my hometown, or we hadn't bought a TV set yet, or they came to town too late for me. I'm pretty sure that at the right age, I would have loved them.
If you find an occupation you love and spend your entire life working at it, is that enough?
James Cameron's films have always been distinguished by ground-breaking technical excellence.
That's what fantasies are for, to help us imagine that things are better than they are.
In my reviews, I feel it's good to make it clear that I'm not proposing objective truth, but subjective reactions; a review should reflect the immediate experience.
I do suspect my star ratings average too high. But, of course, star ratings are ridiculous. I'm stuck with them.
Nobody looks perfect. We have to find peace with the way we look and get on with life.
Here's how much I know about hockey. Mike Royko and I were in a tiny bar one winter night, and the radio kept reporting goals by the Blackhawks. I mentioned how frequently the team was scoring. 'You're listening to the highlights,' Royko observed.
I know as a critic I'm required to have a well-armored heart. I must be a cynical wise guy to show my great sophistication. No pushover, me.
It often strikes me that the actors in high school movies look too old.
There must be a better reason to have a baby than to provide a plot point in a rom-com. Don't you think?
I'm told we movie critics praise movies that are long and boring.
Samurai films, like westerns, need not be familiar genre stories. They can expand to contain stories of ethical challenges and human tragedy.
If there's anything I hate more than a stupid action comedy, it's an incompetent stupid action comedy. It's not so bad it's good. It's so bad it's nothing else but bad.
It is not enough for a movie to be righteous. It must also be watchable.
People never think of themselves as choosing to be politically correct. They simply think in the way that they do.
Not everyone needs to be slammed into a category and locked there.
No movie has ever been able to provide a catharsis for the Holocaust, and I suspect none will ever be able to provide one for 9/11. Such subjects overwhelm art.
There's something depressing about a young couple helplessly in love. Their state is so perfect, it must be doomed. They project such qualities on their lover that only disappointment can follow.
It's easier to identify with loss than love, because we have had so much more experience of it.
To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts.Collection: Unhappy
I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.Collection: Wisdom
Praise without merit is more harmful than unearned criticism.Collection: Criticism
I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do.Collection: Believe
How quickly do we grow accustomed to wonders. I am reminded of the Isaac Asimov story Nightfall, about the planet where the stars were visible only once in a thousand years. So awesome was the sight that it drove men mad. We who can see the stars every night glance up casually at the cosmos and then quickly down again, searching for a Dairy Queen.Collection: Stars
Dogs remember every favor you ever do for them and store those events in a memory bank titled Why My Human Is A God.Collection: Dog
Life always has an unhappy ending, but you can have a lot of fun along the way, and everything doesn't have to be dripping in deep significance.Collection: Fun
Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us into better people.Collection: Art
Start. Don’t look back. If at the end it doesn’t meet your hopes, start again. Now you know more about your hopes.Collection: Looks
I do not fear death. I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear.Collection: Believe
Of what use is freedom of speech to those who fear to offend?Collection: Freedom Of Speech
Never marry anyone you could not sit next to during a three-day bus trip.Collection: Inspirational
Sometimes you only need to have a few words with a person to know you would like to have many more.Collection: Relationship
A corner is important. It provides privacy and an anchor and lets you exist independently of the room.Collection: Anchors
What every human being should do is eat a vegetarian diet based on whole foods. Period. That's it. Animal protein is bad for you. Dairy is bad for you. Forget the ads: Milk and eggs are bad for you.Collection: Animal
Movies are not about moving, but about whether to move.Collection: Moving
To know me is to love me. This cliche is popular for a reason, because most of us, I imagine, believe deep in our hearts that if anyone truly got to know us, they'd truly get to love us - or at least know why we're the way we are. The problem in life, maybe the central problem, is that so few people ever seem to have sufficient curiosity to do the job on us that we know we deserve.Collection: Life
(Guy) Pearce, as the hero, makes the mistake of trying to give a good and realistic performance. (Jeremy) Irons at least knows what kind of movie he's in, and hams it up accordingly.Collection: Mistake
No matter what they're charging to get in, it's worth more to get out.Collection: Matter
I know aliens from other worlds are required to arrive in New Mexico, but why stay there?Collection: Other Worlds