John Hughes Quotes & Sayings

My generation had to be taken seriously because we were stopping things and burning things. We were able to initiate change, because we had such vast numbers. We were part of the baby boom, and when we moved, everything moved with us. — John Hughes

I don't consider myself qualified to do a movie about international intrigue - I seldom leave the country. — John Hughes

The only reason I got into movies was because I had no music talent. — John Hughes

Those who say 'you only live once' have never read a book. — John Hughes

The outpouring of generosity is overwhelming. People across the Lehigh Valley are moved by the images they are seeing on TV and they want to know how they can help. — John Hughes

We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all. — John Hughes

It would be a nice problem to have. It would mean we had reached the final. I'd like to think common sense would prevail and we'd have the use of both of them. — John Hughes

I'm from Chicago, I live in Chicago and I wanted very much for the music in Chicago to succeed. — John Hughes

At the time I came along, Hollywood's idea of teen movies meant there had to be a lot of nudity, usually involving boys in pursuit of sex, and pretty gross overall. Either that or a horror movie. And the last thing Hollywood wanted in their teen movies was teenagers! — John Hughes

I used to judge the quality of music by whether I could make a 90-minute cassette and not repeat any artists. — John Hughes

The best sounds a kid will get is in a movie theater, with huge speakers, turned up loud. I always mix my music really loud. I don't care if you don't hear all the dialogue. The audience are not idiots. — John Hughes

When I go to a concert, I can't believe that people pay lots of money to see a band that they obviously like and then they dance the whole time. — John Hughes

It's been about ten years since I've worked with actors who knew their lines! — John Hughes

My heroes were Dylan, John Lennon and Picasso, because they each moved their particular medium forward, and when they got to the point where they were comfortable, they always moved on. — John Hughes

To have a song work for the movie, it can't just be written apart and shoved in. It's got to come out of the action. It's got to talk about the characters, not the story: it has to augment that action. — John Hughes

If I'm on a roll, and I finish a script at 3:00, I'll start another at 3:02. — John Hughes

Advertising was fairly simple work, and I really just wanted a job where I could sit and write every day and not get fired for it like I had at other jobs, but it was fun. — John Hughes

It's like being at the kids' table at Thanksgiving - you can put your elbows on it, you don't have to talk politics ... no matter how old I get, there's always a part of me that's sitting there. — John Hughes

I usually listen to surf music, not much instrumental music, and when I was younger I listened to jazz. — John Hughes

Maitre D' : I appreciate your understanding. Ferris: Don't think twice. It's understanding that makes it possible for people like us to tolerate a person like yourself. — John Hughes

It's arguable whether a hit song is gonna add to the business a film does. There are plenty of films that didn't do any business and sold a million albums. — John Hughes

I don't think of kids as a lower form of the human species. — John Hughes

A geek is a guy who has everything going for him but he's just too young. He's got the software but he doesn't have the hardware yet. — John Hughes

Many filmmakers portray teenagers as immoral and ignorant, with pursuits that are pretty base ... But I haven't found that to be the case. I listen to kids. I respect them ... Some of them are as bright as any of the adults I've met. — John Hughes

I am not going to sit on my ass as the events that affect me unfold to determine the course of my life. I'm going to take a stand. I'm going to defend it. — John Hughes

I was obsessed with romance. When I was in high school, I saw 'Doctor Zhivago' every day from the day it opened until the day it left the theater. — John Hughes

I'm a former hippie, so clothes are important to me - your clothes defined you in that period. I guess clothes still defines people. But, I change a lot. I'm in my Brooks Brothers period now. — John Hughes

I happen to go for the simplest, most ordinary things. The extraordinary doesn't interest me. I'm not interested in psychotics. I'm interested in the person you don't expect to have a story. I like Everyman. — John Hughes

All I care about in this goddamn life are me, my drums, and you. — John Hughes

When I approach a band, I want to respect them and be respectful of their music. I'm not gonna say, 'Look, you guys are real hot, so we'll stick you in the movie, and we'll get it in all these stores and all these stations.' That isn't right. — John Hughes

Fantastic! Right in the middle of that long stretch between Christmas and Spring Break, your coats are getting dirty, everything's dark, dingy - what a great time for a movie! — John Hughes

A nerd will be a nerd all his life. — John Hughes

I so desperately hate to end these movies that the first thing I do when I'm done is write another one. Then I don't feel sad about having to leave and everybody going away. — John Hughes

I'd rather make music if I had the talent. — John Hughes

Most of my characters are romantic rather than sexual. I think that's an essential difference in my pictures. I think they are more accurate in portraying young people as romantic - as wanting a relationship, an understanding with a member of the opposite sex more than just physical sex. — John Hughes

I don't think I'm making any great statements, and I certainly don't think I'm making art. — John Hughes

I stumbled into this business, I didn't train for it. I yelled 'Action!' on my first two movies before the camera was turned on. — John Hughes

The hardest thing about being a writer is convincing your wife that lying on the sofa is work. — John Hughes

Rock 'n' roll is a young form. People over twenty- five ruin it. This whole censorship thing has come about because old people are playing with a form that is essentially young and rebellious. Do you know how brilliant it was for The Beatles to break up when they did?. — John Hughes

I like young actors because they're so unspoiled, not like some of those actors who are about half an hour into their fifteen minutes of fame by the time they get to me. — John Hughes

I always preferred to hang out with the outcasts, 'cause they were cooler; they had better taste in music, for one thing, I guess because they had more time to develop one with the lack of social interaction they had! — John Hughes

People forget that when you're 16, you're probably more serious than you'll ever be again. You think seriously about the big questions. — John Hughes

A man's tie should never be louder than his wife. — John Hughes

You don't spell it, son. You eat it. — John Hughes

When I did 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', I had the idea on Monday and the following Tuesday it was in budget at Paramount. I couldn't walk. — John Hughes

I don't want to be too cool. You get so caught up with whether you're doing it right. — John Hughes

My early prose style - this is so embarrassing - was sort of a suburban, Presbyterian knockoff of Woody Allen. — John Hughes

What a director should be doing is making it appear as though there was no script. — John Hughes

I find that screen kissing wears very thin very quickly. — John Hughes

I didn't have this tortured childhood; I liked it. — John Hughes

Why watch someone kissing when people really close their eyes when they kiss? — John Hughes