Top 70 Joseph Gordon-Levitt Quotes

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Movies are different from real life.

Quality isn’t about where the money came from or which company gets to put their name on the thing. What matters is who made the movie and why they made it.

I stopped getting nervous a long time ago, so any time I do get nervous, which is rare – about work, anyway – I always take that as a really good sign.

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

While I’m not a celebrity, it’s such a weird concept that society has cooked up for us. Astronauts and teachers are much more amazing than actors.

Supermarket tabloids and celebrity gossip shows are not just innocently shallow entertainment, but a fundamental part of a much larger movement that involves apathy, greed and hierarchy.

While I’m not a celebrity, it’s such a weird concept that society has cooked up for us. Astronauts and teachers are much more amazing than actors.

To be honest, I sort of feel like ‘movie actor’ isn’t of this time. I love it. But it’s a 20th-century art form.

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.

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

Most scripts are bad. I read a lot of them.

Hollywood has the idea that movies have to be dumb. But especially movies for or about teenagers have to be really dumb!

Supermarket tabloids and celebrity gossip shows are not just innocently shallow entertainment, but a fundamental part of a much larger movement that involves apathy, greed and hierarchy.

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.

If you’re going to put yourself above everybody else, you might end up alone.

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

I was just watching baby videos of me and I was obviously an exhibitionist.

Storytelling in general is a communal act. Throughout human history, people would gather around, whether by the fire or at a tavern, and tell stories. One person would chime in, then another, maybe someone would repeat a story they heard already but with a different spin. It’s a collective process.

My dad never blew anything up, but he probably had friends who did. He and my mom have always preached that the pen is mightier than a Molotov cocktail.

My dad never blew anything up, but he probably had friends who did. He and my mom have always preached that the pen is mightier than a Molotov cocktail.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Storytelling in general is a communal act. Throughout human history, people would gather around, whether by the fire or at a tavern, and tell stories. One person would chime in, then another, maybe someone would repeat a story they heard already but with a different spin. It’s a collective process.

Hollywood has the idea that movies have to be dumb. But especially movies for or about teenagers have to be really dumb!

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

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.

I was a sort of serious little dude – snobby.

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

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.

There’s an absolute prejudice that good movies are dramas and comedies are more dismissable. But I couldn’t disagree more.

Comedy takes a very specific technique, specific skills.

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.

To be honest, I sort of feel like ‘movie actor’ isn’t of this time. I love it. But it’s a 20th-century art form.

To me, a sex scene in a movie generally means a gratuitous scene that doesn’t serve the story but gives a kind of excuse – we’ve got these two actors, we want to see them naked, so let’s bring in the music and the soft light.

A lot of people, most people who are working, they do it for money. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. It so happens that I made a lot of money already, so I don’t have to worry that much about it. I wouldn’t fault anybody for doing it for the money, but it doesn’t interest me right now.

I didn’t want to just work within Hollywood when I started a production company. I wanted to be able to collaborate with great artists from all over the world.

When I started editing on my home computer, I said to myself, ‘Well, I could be at home studying for a class or I could be at home editing a video.’

I have a really terrible sense of direction.

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.

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’s no royalty in America, so people deify actors.

I think, honestly, that the word ‘indie’ is a false gimmick. ‘Independent’ used to mean a movie that was financed outside corporate Hollywood, but a lot of what gets called independent these days is totally produced within that system. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you’re going to put yourself above everybody else, you might end up alone.

I like making little videos and little records. I’ve always loved video cameras and four-track cassette recorders, still cameras, anything.

I hate cars.

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.

When I arrived at Columbia, I gave up acting and became interested in all things French. French poetry, French history, French literature.

I was just watching baby videos of me and I was obviously an exhibitionist.

I was a sort of serious little dude – snobby.

One thing that stays pretty consistent for all my jobs is, I listen to a lot of music while I’m working.

Normally you read a screenplay – and I read a lot of them – and the characters don’t feel like people. They feel like plot devices or cliches or stereotypes.

Movies are different from real life.

I think, honestly, that the word ‘indie’ is a false gimmick. ‘Independent’ used to mean a movie that was financed outside corporate Hollywood, but a lot of what gets called independent these days is totally produced within that system. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

On some level, we as human beings can be who we want to be.

I stopped getting nervous a long time ago, so any time I do get nervous, which is rare – about work, anyway – I always take that as a really good sign.