Robert Altman Quotes & Sayings

I've had it-the agencies, the winking, the networks, the ratings. Anyone who thinks TV is an art medium is crazy-it's an advertising medium. — Robert Altman

Making a movie is like chipping away at a stone. You take a piece off here, you take a piece off there and when you're finished, you have a sculpture. You know that there's something in there, but you're not sure exactly what it is until you find it. — Robert Altman

[From a May 1, 2004 article entitled "Still Up to Mischief" from The Guardian reporting on and quoting Altman]
Still, it's worth noting that by the age of 20 this whistle- blower had resisted two of the most powerful institutions - church and army, both. He is an atheist, 'And I have been against all of these wars ever since. — Robert Altman

The artist and the multitude are natural enemies. They always will be, both ways. The artist is an enemy of the multitude, and the multitude is the enemy of the artist. And when the disguise comes off and they're both standing facing one another, they're just there at odds end. — Robert Altman

I've never had a big hit movie. "MASH" was probably the biggest. I don't make those kind of films, and I never have. I wish each one of them would just do billions of dollars worth of ticket sales, but they never do and they never will. — Robert Altman

What is an ending? Theres no such thing. Death is the only ending. — Robert Altman

Your own ego is the only trap that I think you can fall into. — Robert Altman

I want to see something that I've never seen before, so how can I tell that actor what that is? I'm not trying to construct a document or situation that is what I want, because what I want is something new to me. — Robert Altman

Happy endings are absolutely ludicrous, they're not true at all. We see the guy carry the girl across the threshold and everybody lives happily ever after
that's bullshit. Three weeks later he's beating her up and she's suing for divorce and he's got cancer. — Robert Altman

Wisdom and love have nothing to do with each other. Wisdom is staying alive, survival. You're wise if you don't stick your finger in the light plug. Love - you'll stick your finger in anything. — Robert Altman

I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don't know what's on the other end. Your imagination is under there. — Robert Altman

If George W. Bush is elected president, I'm leaving for France. — Robert Altman

What's a cult? It just means not enough people to make a minority. — Robert Altman

Retirement? You're talking about death, right? — Robert Altman

The Oscar for the films, it'd be nice. But I don't make those kind of films, and I don't think that will ever happen. — Robert Altman

I don't know what "Altmanesque" means, though I suppose I'm flattered by it. — Robert Altman

Maybe there's a chance to get back to grown-up films. Anything that uses humor and dramatic values to deal with human emotions and gets down to what people are to people. — Robert Altman

It's all just one film to me. Just different chapters. — Robert Altman

All of my films deal with the same thing: striving, socially and culturally, to stay alive. — Robert Altman

If you have a child who is seven feet tall, you don't cut off his head or his legs. You buy him a bigger bed and hope he plays basketball. — Robert Altman

[The Player is] not a truthful indictment of Hollywood. It's much uglier than I portrayed it, but nobody would've been interested if I'd shown just how sadistic, cruel and self-orientated it is. — Robert Altman

Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes. — Robert Altman

Titanic I thought was the most dreadful piece of work I've ever seen in my entire life. Another film that I think is equally bad was American Beauty. So badly acted and directed. But people like that. — Robert Altman

Jazz has endured because it doesn't have a beginning or an ending. It's a moment. — Robert Altman

I have never made a movie that's attracted a 14-year-old boy. — Robert Altman

Men make clothes for the women they'd like to be with or in most cases the women they'd like to be. — Robert Altman

I'll give you the same advice I give my children: Never take advice from anybody. — Robert Altman

If you don't have a leg to stand on, you can't put your foot down. — Robert Altman

I don't think screenplay writing is the same as writing - I mean, I think it's blueprinting. — Robert Altman

There was not a lot of dialogue. The titles were just to keep you up. It's the visual stimulation that hits the audience. That's the reason for film. Otherwise, we might as well turn the light out and call it radio. — Robert Altman

I was a heavy drinker, but the alcohol affected my heart rather than my liver. So I stopped. I smoke grass now. I say that to everybody, because marijuana should be legalized. It's ridiculous that it isn't. If at the end of the day I feel like smoking a joint I do it. It changes the perception of what I've been through all day. — Robert Altman

Chance is another name that we give to our mistakes. And all of the best things in my films are mistakes. — Robert Altman

Words don't tell you what people are thinking. Rarely do we use words to really tell. We use words to sell people or to convince people or to make them admire us. It's all disguise. It's all hidden
a secret language. — Robert Altman