Joss Whedon Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Joss Whedon.
Famous Quotes By Joss Whedon
I'm working! What are you doing? Besides being...
Being what?
Wait a minute...
Sarcastic? Unfeeling? British?
It's an animal.
Where?
No, the word!
Still you have to admit, I am... very British. I don't say hard R's.
You know what I like? Brown sauce. What's it made of? Science doesn't know!
It's made of brown.
Brown. Mined from the earth by the hardscrabble brown miners of North Brownderton.
Oh, my God. I find lentils completely incomprehensible. What the sun-dappled hell is Echo doing at Fremont?
That's got nothing to do with the drug, which means our problems are huge and indomitable.
Ooh. I could eat that word. Or a crisp. Do you have any crisps?
You haven't seen my drawer of inappropriate starches? C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!
Oh my god, I'm having such a terrible day. — Joss Whedon
There are two things that interest me - and they're both power, ultimately. One is not having it and one is abusing it. — Joss Whedon
I would love to give you a more in-depth coherent explanation of my view of the soul, and if I had one I would. The soul and my concept of it are as ephemeral as anybody's, and possibly more so. — Joss Whedon
I'm never interested in movies where you don't care about the people you're watching, and that's my biggest quibble about horror, that kids have gotten stupider and stupider. — Joss Whedon
Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction. We live in a space ship, dear. — Joss Whedon
I get recognized just often enough to keep my ego bouncing along, but not so much that I can't go places. — Joss Whedon
My people - before I was changed - they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It's a Claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship; the crown represents loyalty ... and the heart ... Well, you know ... Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this. — Joss Whedon
I used to write chronologically when I started, from beginning to end. Eventually I went, 'That's absurd; my heart is in this one scene, therefore I must follow it.' — Joss Whedon
I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see. — Joss Whedon
Something can be very funny and then suddenly very terrifying-very exciting, and suddenly very ridiculous. I think that's what life is like, that's what interests me. — Joss Whedon
The goal is always about the next story. It's always about the thing I haven't done before. It's about learning, or it's about becoming better, and it's about whatever story grabs hold of me. — Joss Whedon
I think Spider-Man [film], the first one particularly, really figured out the formula of, "Oh, tell the story that they told in the comic. It was compelling. That's why it's iconic." — Joss Whedon
Why do you write strong female characters?
Because you're still asking me that question. — Joss Whedon
I think everyone who makes movies should be forced to do television. Because you have to finish. You have to get it done, and there are a lot of decisions made just for the sake of making decisions. You do something because it's efficient and because it gets the story told and it connects to the audience. — Joss Whedon
I tend to tell stories that have a lot of momentum; it's not like 'and then months later ... ' I like things where the momentum of one action rolls into the next one so everything is the sum of that. — 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
Men not only don't get what's important about what women are capable of, but in fact they fear it, and envy it, and want to throw stones at it, because it's the thing they can't have. — Joss Whedon
Here's a story of a girl
Who grew up lost and lonely
Thinking love was fairy tale
And trouble was made only for me
Even in the darkness every color can be found
And every day of rain brings
Water flowing
To things growing in the ground
Grief replaced with pity
For a city barely coping
Dreams are easy to achieve
If hope is all I'm hoping to be
Any time you're hurt
There's one who has it worse around
And every drop of rain will keep you growing
Seeds you're sowing in the ground — Joss Whedon
My mom is a teacher, my dad was a writer for television, his dad was a writer for television, and combining those two has been sort of the goal of my life. — Joss Whedon
Even in the darkness, every color can be found. And every day of rain brings water flowing to things growing in the ground. — Joss Whedon
Basically that you can do anything. If you pool your resources,and just give up the idea that you're going to act like a normal person or sleep, if you want it hard enough and do it well enough, it happens. A lot of really talented people either sort of get crushed under the wheel of the movie studio system or desperately try and get their next gig in TV. I understand why, because we've all got to put food on the table and the brass ring is out there, we'd all like to be making the Emmy-winning shows and the blockbusters and all that, but at the same time you could be doing stuff yourself. — Joss Whedon
Remember to always be yourself. — Joss Whedon
I designed 'Buffy' to be an icon, to be an emotional experience, to be loved in a way that other shows can't be loved. Because it's about adolescence, which is the most important thing people go through in their development, becoming an adult. — Joss Whedon
Everything we do really is just a little marker on the long road to death. And sometimes that's overwhelmingly depressing to me, and sometimes it makes me feel kinship and forgiveness. We've all got the same ending to the story. The way we make that story more elaborate, I got to respect. — Joss Whedon
There are two things that I cannot resist: one is musicals and the other is a spaceship in trouble. But I am smart enough not to combine the two things. — Joss Whedon
You think we're dancing?" "That's all we've ever done. — Joss Whedon
I cannot abide useless people. — Joss Whedon
I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. — Joss Whedon
Horror movies don't exist unless you go and see them, and people always will. — Joss Whedon
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
Very occasionally, if you pay really close attention, life doesn't suck. — 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
There was a time before I felt I was a real writer, when I was a yarn spinner and I just wanted to tell story until it was over. But then there came a time where I was like, 'No, I want to understand something through writing this that I might have not understood before. I want people to come away with something to think about.' — Joss Whedon
I've never met a well-adjusted person. It's weird. — Joss Whedon
'The Dark Knight,' for me, has the same problem that every other 'Batman' movie has. It's not about Batman. I think Heath Ledger is just phenomenal and the character of the Joker is beautifully written. He has a particular philosophy that he carries throughout the movie. He has one of the best bad guy schemes. — Joss Whedon
There's a fine line between support and stalking and let's all stay on the right side of that. — Joss Whedon
Life's a show and we all play a part
And when the music starts
We open up our hearts — Joss Whedon
Hey, this is weird. I ordered one frozen yogurt and they gave me two. You don't happen to like frozen yogurt do you? I love it! You're kidding! What a crazy, random happenstance! — Joss Whedon
This landing is gonna get pretty interesting. Define "interesting". "Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die"? [on speakerphone]: This is the captain: we have a little problem with our entry sequence so we may experience some slight turbulence, then explode. — Joss Whedon
I've seen plenty of films where the projector broke. The problems that we have in the digital age are exactly the same as we had. Instead of, 'There's a hair in the gate,' it's, 'The computer ate the footage.' There will always be things like that going on. Nothing is perfect. — Joss Whedon
I never write anything without humor, just because I like humor, but at the same time, it is a way for anything fantastical to become relatable. — Joss Whedon
There's no fuzzy middle ground. You either believe that women are people or you don't. It's that simple. — Joss Whedon
Always be yourself... unless you suck. — Joss Whedon
You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love 'til it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other until it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood
blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it. — Joss Whedon
All right, Emma. You brought me in. You made your move. Just like I knew you would. A nice move. Now it's my turn. — Joss Whedon
The problem for me is that 'Watchmen,' one of the great comics of all time, is a look at superheroes that has gone beyond the concept of or necessity for superheroes. — Joss Whedon
Especially, I think, living in any fantasy or science fiction world means really understanding what you're seeing and reading really densely on a level that a lot of people don't bother to read. — Joss Whedon
Contradiction is the seed of conciousness. I knew, from the pain of contradiction, that I was. And what I was. — Joss Whedon
Anya: I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's- There's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore. It's stupid. It's mortal and stupid. And-and Xander's crying and not talking, and-and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why. — Joss Whedon
We have done the impossible. And that makes us mighty. — Joss Whedon
They can take everything away from me, but they can never take my pride, unless I somehow get some. — Joss Whedon
A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend — Joss Whedon
I did my English A level in England, and we studied Shakespeare. I had great, great high school teachers, and we parsed the text within an inch of its life. — Joss Whedon
I write for fanboy moments. I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. I write to do all the things the viewers want too. So the intensity of the fan response is enormously gratifying. It means I hit a nerve. — Joss Whedon
I'll take crazy over stupid any day. — Joss Whedon
You learn something every time you make a mistake. — Joss Whedon
There are many films and TV shows I make where people find themselves in fantastical situations; as often as possible, their reactions to it are very normal. — Joss Whedon
I still believe that even though 'The Empire Strikes Back' is better in innumerable ways than 'Star Wars,' 'Star Wars' wins. — Joss Whedon
Limitations are something that I latch onto - like working in genre, or if you're writing TV, there are act breaks, there's a length of time it's supposed to be. The restrictions of budget and sets can be really useful. When you can have everything, it's very hard to make things feel real and lived in. — Joss Whedon
My favorite part of Comic-Con? The groupies. — Joss Whedon
All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet
it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you. — Joss Whedon
Whatever makes you weird, is probably your greatest asset. — Joss Whedon
In the time of gods and monsters, what is the worth of a man? — Joss Whedon
If you try to multitask in the classic sense of doing two things at once, what you end up doing is quasi-tasking. It's like being with children. You have to give it your full attention for however much time you have, and then you have to give something else your full attention. — Joss Whedon
The first lesson a watcher learns is to separate truth from illusion. Because in the world of magicks, it's the hardest thing to do. — Joss Whedon
I was a little bit ashamed of American TV because I thought, 'None of the shows my father works on are as funny as my father.' — Joss Whedon
You know, I always was an early morning or late night writer. Early morning was my favorite; late night was because you had a deadline. And at four in the morning you make up some of your most absurd jokes. — Joss Whedon
I do have screenplays I've written that never saw the light of day, but I don't usually go back to them. When I've told a story, I want to tell another story. — Joss Whedon
I love a good romantic comedy. — Joss Whedon
That wouldn't be a first, now would it?"
"Jean."
"Jean Grey is dead, Agent."
"Yeah, that'll last. — Joss Whedon
Sadly, I hate foreigners. And Americans. And animals. And flora, and some fauna. Also the magma that is the very core of this our mother earth. I'm full o' hate! — Joss Whedon
I don't like uncertainty. I don't play poker. I don't like bluffing. — Joss Whedon
You are going to change the world, because that is actually what the world is. You do not pass through this life, it passes through you. You experience it, you interpret it, you act, and then it is different. That happens constantly. You are changing the world. You always have been. — Joss Whedon
I usually write things in my head before I ever write them down. When I write it out, usually I've already figured out what it is I'm trying to do. — Joss Whedon
I didn't study writing. I didn't write anything substantial until I got to California. — Joss Whedon
I wanted to drag Shakespeare from obscurity. I've been a fan my whole life. — Joss Whedon
Ultimately what I end up writing about is helplessness and the flipside of that, empowerment. — Joss Whedon
To accept duality is to earn identity. — 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
Mal: We're still flying.
Simon: That's not much.
Mal: It's enough
- from Firefly — Joss Whedon
The only way to real mature love is to get past the tropes of what we consider 'romance.' — Joss Whedon
I really like beer. — Joss Whedon
I like horror; I like comedy; I like drama; I like action; I like female heroes. — Joss Whedon
Movies were always the goal, but I had a lot of goals. Twelve-year-old me wanted to do everything: act and sing and paint and dance. — Joss Whedon
The master plan does not have a master plan. Television ultimately finds itself, and after it finds itself, it finds itself changing. — Joss Whedon
I tried to write a TV series, and then I discovered first of all that I love writing more than anything on this earth, and that you could write exactly as well as you want to. — Joss Whedon
Vampire Willow: "Bored now. — Joss Whedon
As we all know, blinking lights means science. — Joss Whedon
My visions of the future are always pretty much standard issue. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and there are flying cars. — Joss Whedon
[My mother] really was an extraordinary, inspirational, tough, cool, sexy, funny woman. And that's the kind of woman I've always surrounded myself with, my friends and particularly my wife, who is not only smarter than and stronger than I am, but occasionally taller, too. I think it also goes back to my father and my stepfather, because they prized wit and resolve in the women they were with above all things and they were among the rare men who understood that recognising someone else's power doesn't diminish your own. — Joss Whedon
Directing is such alchemy, it's so easy to fail. And I've seen people who are great at their jobs because everybody has a go. Editors, DPs, actors, craft services guy, everybody wants to try it out but it is such a diffuse but necessary set of skills that you never know which one this person might lack. — Joss Whedon
You can't be a storyteller and a speechwriter at the same time. — Joss Whedon