Oren Quotes & Sayings

Being in the moment with these guys was just a profound experience every day, and when we shoot a movie it's actually a very short process, especially an independent movie like this. It was only thirty five days of shooting. — Oren Moverman

I'm also very impressed with the best people in experimental electronic world, like Peta and Eckart Aillers and Finez and Jim O'Rourke and Oren Umbarci and Francesco Lopez. Most of them use the computer as their main instrument. — John Frusciante

First of all, we occupied Afghanistan and Iraq and I'm not even talking about the past occupation of them, I'm just talking about currently. And we all know that occupations, in military terms, comes down basically to policing, so you have an army basically functioning as a police force in these foreign territories as part of foreign policy. I'm not knocking that down, I'm just observing. — Oren Moverman

Science can point out dangers, but science cannot turn the direction of minds and hearts. That is the province of spiritual powers within and without our very beginnings-powers that are the mysteries of life itself. — Oren Lyons

Another option, which I think is the thing that makes more sense, is this fact that the police are a reflection of the occupation of certain neighborhoods and certain parts of cities that are designed, basically, to keep the bottom down and basically maintain the status quo, but out of sight, so that the other side - the people in power, the people with money, the people with comfort, the people that are living in the "safer" areas - are sure that they can sleep safely in their bed while bad thing are happening to people and it's not their problem. — Oren Moverman

Not knowing the thing that's chasing you is a lot scarier than seeing it right in front of you. — Oren Peli

One night of strategic bombing will restore all your lost prestige in the Middle East, — Michael B. Oren

I think the Obama administration, whether it's in his first term or second term, is totally committed to the search for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and we greatly appreciate the president's effort, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the first administration, now Secretary of State John Kerry. — Michael Oren

I've never owned an Apple product. I like the fact that PCs are open architecture and not locked down like Apple products. I feel that Macs are also unjustifiably overpriced. — Oren Peli

We've got to think now, in real terms, for that seventh generation . . . We've got to get back to spiritual law if we are to survive. — Oren Lyons

I pay a lot of attention to box office because I understand it. TV ratings? I don't know how to interpret them, since I'm new to TV, so I'm just going to wait for somebody to tell me. — Oren Peli

But the reality is that the police serve a certain function, to maintain a certain status quo, and that's one of the things that the movie is about, because it basically gives you three options for looking at the police, as symbolized by Dave Brown. — Oren Moverman

You married Elora?"
"Yes, briefly." Oren emphasized how fleeting it had been. "We were wed because we thought it would be a good way to combine our respective kingdoms. Vittra and Trylle have had their disagreements over the years, and we wanted to create peace. Unfortunately, your mother is the most impossible, irrational, horrible woman on the planet." He smiled at me. "Well, you know. You've met her. — Amanda Hocking

Although we are in different boats you in your boat and we in our canoe we share the same river of life. — Oren Lyons

We wonder, how do you instruct seven billion people as to the relationship to the Earth? Because unless they understand that, and relate the way they should be, the future is pretty dim for the human species. — Oren Lyons

I'm looking into a different actor's eyes every couple days, and I'm learning so much just to see the different processes people go through, and how their acting works for them. — Oren Moverman

The Middle East, that seductive region where [Herman] Melville had hoped to rekindle his inspiration and revive his diminishing career, had proved an egregious disappointment. "The whole thing is half melancholy, half farcical," he groaned, "like all the rest of the world. — Michael B. Oren

Gory stuff can be shocking but it doesn't really scare me. I'd say the kind of stuff that gets under my skin is the unknown. You hear a knock behind a wall and you don't know what it is. Is there something there or not? — Oren Peli

He had a point, but I wasn't sure it was much better than Elora's. She worked more of a con job, and Oren proposed outright theft. — Amanda Hocking

You don't make your character in a crisis, you exhibit it. — Oren Arnold

Man's command of the language is most important. Next to kissing, it's the most exciting form of communication. — Oren Arnold

I don't know if I would say that I'm specifically a history buff. I do find a lot of things fascinating, especially anything that's bizarre or mysterious and unknown and we don't have all the answers for. — Oren Peli

The young generation can influence their elders and can make them understand the environmental problems that are faced by us today. The youth can make them see that our environment is deteriorating day by day. — Oren Lyons

Few men are a threat to a fully-trained wizard.
Oren the Wise — Scott Robert Scheller

It's tough to be an actor and it's tough to portray a real person, and it's tough to play two people adding up to one person. — Oren Moverman

Oren tells Marcus: You have a peaceful, noble heart. But as we discussed last night, some men deserve to die. Valeria knows that. — Scott Robert Scheller

We say that the faces of coming generations are looking up from the earth. So when you put your feet down, you put them down very carefully - because there are generations coming one after the other. If you think in these terms, then you'll walk a lot more carefully, be more respectful of this earth. — Oren Lyons

I believe the Palestinians have never indicated a willingness to meet our minimum requirements, which are recognition of Israel's permanence and legitimacy as a Jewish state and end of claims and end of conflict. — Michael Oren

I'm just considering myself extremely lucky. All I wanted is to have 'Paranormal Activity' be released and become successful. And everything that's happened since then is just an enormous bonus. — Oren Peli

The American Jewish left gets a lot of press time. But the American Jewish right does not. And in many ways, the American Jewish right is every bit as well-organized and perhaps better funded than the American Jewish left. And they also come out with criticism. — Michael Oren

People often ask whether Obama passes the 'kishka test:' whether he likes Israel special, not in the same way he likes Taiwan or South Korea? Does he? I think the kishka test was decided when he visited Israel. I think the reaction there was emotional and genuine. — Michael Oren

I think the most emotional part in making the movie and discovering the movie - because it was a process of discovering - is all the scenes with the family. — Oren Moverman

What is reflected in the way this behavior is happening - in the way that minorities are treated, and the way that the incarceration system works, and the way that even the police are treated, and the way they're paid, and the way they're trained, and the whole educational system. — Oren Moverman

What if we choose to eradicate ourselves from this Earth by whatever means? The Earth goes nowhere. And in time, it will regenerate. There may not be people, but the Earth will regenerate. And you know why? Because the Earth has all the time in the world and we don't. — Oren Lyons

The damage that we do in the service of whatever motivates us in life has a direct effect, mostly on our kids. — Oren Moverman

I think that's an incredibly overwhelming reality that is really at the basis of how we're going to deal with this. Looking at the film, people will say, "Oh yeah, you're criticizing the police." I say, "No." — Oren Moverman

Things that scare me are the loss of control, dealing with the unknown and the unseen. Something that's not supposed to be there and you don't know where it came from, or what it wants from you, or how to defend yourself against it. That's the root of the things I find scary. — Oren Peli

The first view is "bad apple." Bad apple is excusable. It's sort of like, something went bad with this man. But the second option is police corruption, so it's a problem with the department. — Oren Moverman

Don't know if I'm a nerd - I'm more of a geek. — Oren Peli

I mean, you always hope to have a part on every level, on every layer. For us it was very much a conversation about power and sexuality and brutality. And really all the issues that are in that world, in that space, come down to one word, which is masculinity. — Oren Moverman

If you look at it that way, then you start thinking about the basic things, which are jobs not jails, and education not incarceration. — Oren Moverman

Maturity is the ability to live in someone else's world. — Oren Arnold

The thing I find really scary about ghosts and demons is that you don't really know what they are or where they are. They're not very well understood. You don't know what they want from you. So it's the kind of thing you don't even know how to defend yourself against. Anything that's unknown and mysterious is very scary. — Oren Peli

I've been having a lot of fun exploring different aspects of filmmaking, like writing and producing. There isn't a specific plan and I usually don't know what's going to be the next thing I do. — Oren Peli

If you don't have a moral question governing your society, then you don't have a society that is going to survive. — Oren Lyons

As you share your story, there has to be some suspense to it because you are going to create intrigue in the telling of the story by telling only part of the story. That's right, you break the analyst frame by capturing audience attention with a provocative story of something that happened to you, and then you keep their attention by not telling them how it ends until you are ready. — Oren Klaff

When you look at where team sports are going, the National Football League is turning into organized warfare. — Oren Lyons

When we walk upon Mother Earth,
we always plant our feet carefully
because we know the faces of our future generations
are looking up at us from beneath the ground.
we never forget them. — Oren Lyons

Because of the way we let the actors improvise, it feels like you're watching people react rather than actors reading lines - so I think that's always going to be something I like. — Oren Peli

Almost any movie, no matter how original, is borrowing from some other movies. — Oren Peli

All the scenes that have to do with the fact that, at the end of the day, we're all engaged - hopefully some of us - in certain causes and ideals and certain ways of living, but we're human, and we're making all these mistakes, and we're caught in particular systems - whatever it is - but ultimately, there's a price paid by the people that are closest to you. — Oren Moverman

Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff. — Josh Kaufman

We in Israel certainly have a great interest in seeing peace, stability, and security restored to Egypt. We want nothing more than peace for the Egyptian people. We're not going to get involved in how Egypt, how the Egyptians should run themselves. That's an internal Egyptian affair. — Michael Oren

I think you can blame certain police officers for certain behavior, you can blame certain departments for certain behavior, and power and so forth, but, ultimately, I'd say it's about us, and it's about society, and I say - even if its sounds a little controversial - put the police aside for a second. It's really not about them. It's about the game that's been created to keep the status quo going and to let the people who own it all gain from the game. — Oren Moverman

I'm having fun with what I'm doing but I'd never categorically say no to something because it's not horror. I'm keeping an open mind. — Oren Peli

Even through you and I are in different boats, you in your boat and we our canoe, we share the same river of life. What befalls me befalls you. And downstream, downstream in this river of life, our children will pay for our selfishness, for our greed, and for our lack of vision. — Oren Lyons

Even when I was making the first 'Paranormal Activity,' I didn't tell anyone I was making it, not my friends or neighbors or co-workers. I just kind of found that there was nothing to gain by announcing to the world that you're doing something. — Oren Peli

Sing it like the midnight wind, Sing it like a prayer; Sing it on to the way to hell, Them blues'll take you there. - Oren Morse, Dead Man's Song — Jonathan Maberry

We are born alone, and all die alone, too. I read that somewhere, in some book. After Oren died I used to lie awake and think about that: think about the universe sucking up hope for us, soul by soul, until we're so dry we all starve, all at once, and the sky takes our bones and crushes them into mulch and starts over again. So goes the cycle. So go the millions and billions of things we can't ever begin to control. — Kate Ellison

Dear God, I pray for patience and I want it right now. — Oren Arnold

I do not see a delegation for the Four Footed. I see no seat for the Eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior. But we are after all a mere part of Creation. And we must consider to understand where we are. And we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there as part and parcel of the Creation. — Oren Lyons

That combination, perhaps, deterred me from telling Netanyahu the most difficult truth of all. Simply: that he had much in common with Obama. Both men were left-handed, both believed in the power of oratory and that they were the smartest men in the room. Both were loners, adverse to hasty decision making and susceptible to a strong woman's advice. And both saw themselves in transformative historical roles. Their similarities, perhaps as much as their differences, heightened the chances for friction between the president and Netanyahu, I could have told him. But I did not. Rather, as the prime minister descended the stairs to the tarmac that early May 20 morning, I merely said, "Welcome to Washington, sir," and extended my hand. This he gripped and pulled me toward him. With his eyes still flaring, he recalled the cable I sent him months back predicting the president's speech. "You called it right," he whispered. — Michael B. Oren

The less people know about 'Paranormal Activity,' the more they enjoy it. — Oren Peli

I think everybody came into it with the understanding that they would go through an experience that is literally not by the book, that is not executing the script and then going home, but living and breathing these characters and being in the moment with each other, and improvising and creating a lot of present-tense intensity between characters. — Oren Moverman

What you people call your natural resources our people call our relatives — Oren Lyons

America is a unique place. The value part of American foreign policy is something I think is very laudable, but it is uniquely American. And it is part of what makes America special. — Michael Oren

By trade, I am a software programmer, so I never really had any experience with movies before. I started out with 'Paranormal Activity.' — Oren Peli

We have to do that. We have to be thankful. That's what we said. Two things were told to us: To be thankful, so those are our ceremonies, ceremonies of thanksgiving. We built nations around it, and you can do that, too. And the other thing they said was enjoy life. That's a rule, a law- enjoy life- you're supposed to. — Oren Lyons

It's always about finding the right balance between answering some questions and raising new ones to keep your story going. — Oren Peli

It's not a big secret that what's lacking and what's wrong in our society starts with education. — Oren Moverman

Every time a man puts a new idea across, he faces a dozen men who thought of it before he did. But they only thought of it. — Oren Arnold

That's really the big inspiration of this movie. It's really looking at a man who's really showing all the traits and all the characteristics of the classic patriarchal country, where he's of military power, he's the king of the hill at home, as well as in the streets. He has the liberty to live where he wants. — Oren Moverman

Life will go on as long as there is someone to sing, to dance, to tell stories and to listen. — Oren Lyons

Our lives are pretty calm. Merging on the freeway in the closest you get to risking your life. So what's missing now is that primal emotion of being scared to death, and I think that's why people crave thrills like roller coasters or scary movies. They give you the chance to feel this very primal emotion in a very controlled environment. — Oren Peli

I think the tricky balance, the most important thing more than the horror is to have a compelling story, compelling drama, a show about great characters that you care about and you want to come back every week to see what they're up to. — Oren Peli

To give a dopamine kick and create desire, offer a reward. To give a norepinephrine kick and create tension, take something away. — Oren Klaff

So this is my Pathetic Loser's confession: I am Oren Tenning, and I have fallen. Hard. — Linda Kage

The environment isn't over here. The environment isn't over there. You are the environment. — Oren Lyons

Even if you look at the 'Paranormal Activity' movies, at the end of the movie things get really crazy and nutty, but they all start in a very mundane situation that people can relate to, and that's also to some degree what we tried to do in 'Chernobyl Diaries.' — Oren Peli

Man sometimes thinks he's been elevated to be the controller, the ruler, but he's not. He's only part of the whole. Man's job is not to exploit, but to oversee, to be a steward. Man has responsibility, not power. — Oren Lyons

All things are bound together, all things connect. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls also the children of the earth. — Oren Lyons

I enjoy the process of writing collaboration so there's some stuff that already that may happen and then some stuff that I'm initiating that I may write on my own. — Oren Moverman

* We can still alter our course. It is NOT too late. We still have options. We need the courage to change our values to the regeneration of our families, the life that surrounds us. — Oren Lyons

I believe that the only alternative Israel has to save itself as a Jewish state - and let's be frank about that: the Jewish state is predicated on having a Jewish majority - the only way we can do that is by unilaterally withdrawing our border and withdrawing our settlements in the West Bank. — Michael Oren

Personally I like the slow burn; I don't think there is anything wrong with it. When I think about the movies that were most effective on me as a viewer I think of the original Haunting and the Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, the Sixth Sense, the Others. These movies are not over the top at all, they are movies that rely on good story telling, good acting, good premise, good exposition and I want to stay true to that in future projects. — Oren Peli

I think that horror, in general, is fairly popular. It's definitely popular in film. There's just not a lot of good horror on TV, so whenever there is good horror on TV, people rush to it. — Oren Peli

The law says if you poison the water, you'll die. The law says that if you poison the air, you'll suffer. The law says if you degrade where you live, you'll suffer ... If you don't learn that, you can only suffer. There's no discussion with this law. — Oren Lyons

We have to get back to the spiritual law if we are to survive. — Oren Lyons

I think that almost every scene was an exploration - it was never going to be just what's on the page. So I know I was very lucky - we all were - to work with a cast of this caliber. These are extremely experienced and intelligent actors, who are also deeply emotional and - as you say - are also engaged in the world. — Oren Moverman

One of the advantages of this found footage format is that you can have deliberately badly composed frames. Here we can put a camera in the weirdest angle and it kind of throws you off. You never know what you are supposed to be paying attention to. It's deliberate chaos. — Oren Peli

I've always had better luck learning things on my own. And I really love the challenge of doing it yourself and kind of being alone against the system. — Oren Peli

The most pressure I felt was for the first 'Paranormal Activity,' because when it was released, whether it was going to be a hit or not, I knew it was going to be a life-altering event for me. — Oren Peli

Oren was wrong.
He wasn't trying to avoid Lena.
He was trying to save her. — Lynn Vroman

The thing that scares me is a place like the Amazon - which is the size of the continental U.S. and mostly unexplored and has a different ecosystem, there are so many things in there that can kill you. — Oren Peli

For a long time we have thought we were better than the living world, and now some of us tend to think we are worse, that everything we touch turns to soot. But neither perspective is healthy. We have to remember how it feels to have equal standing in the world, to be "between the mountain and the ant ... part and parcel of creations," as the Iroquois traditionalist Oren Lyons says. — Janine Benyus

I think it is essential for Israel's survival as a Jewish and democratic state that we end the status quo. The preferred way to end the status quo would be on the basis of a two-state solution. We don't want the Palestinians to be citizens of Israel, nor do we want them to be subjects. — Michael Oren

There's no solutions to prevent corruption because it's the same thing as putting soldiers in an occupation in a foreign territory - there's too much that's gonna go wrong. There's too much human behavior that's going to get in the way. So you're gonna have to start thinking about it in a different direction, and the different direction is: what is wrong with society? — Oren Moverman

'Paranormal Activity' was a unique project in that I made it basically on my own, with a little help, and I had no exposure to the filmmaking world when I made it. — Oren Peli

There is so much misinformation out there. If you give people even a little bit, it gets blown out of proportion then you have to go put out fires. So it's much easier to say, 'No comment.' — Oren Peli

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. — Oren Arnold