46 Oliver Stone Quotes
Lunch is for wimps
I study history in order to give an interpretation
There's an electrical thing about movies
In any film there's always a historical implication
I never put out a history, I put out a dramatic history
I do believe that movies are subject to a million interpretations
When you look at a movie, you look at a director's thought process
I'd love to do historical pictures more, but I don't know if I can
I'm terrible at horror movies, by the way. I get scared so easily
I think that many people in history who had power were bumped off because they had power

Oliver Stone quotes with pictures

One of the joys of going to the movies was that it was trashy, and we should never lose that
Never underestimate the power of jealousy and the power of envy to destroy. Never underestimate that
It's interesting that when economic times were the hardest, that's when many people embraced liberalism
The worst nightmare I ever had about Vietnam was that I had to go back. I woke up in a sweat, in total terror
Coming Home had been made before and Apocalypse Now and Deer Hunter, different kinds of movies
But I suppose film is distinctive because of its nature, of its being able to cut through time with editing
I will come out with my interpretation. If I'm wrong, fine. It will become part of the debris of history, part of the give and take
I've been to war, and it's not easy to kill. It's bloody and messy and totally horrifying, and the consequences are serious
I am not trying to be a historian and a dramatist, I'm a dramatist, a dramatic historian, or one who does a dramatic interpretation of history
He went for the head. Kill the king, and your enemy folds. Alexander would have gone after Osama bin Laden. I'm sorry, but Kerry was right
I'd like to do a story about the medieval ages where in every scene you'd sort of feel that you were in the 12th century. That would be great to get that feeling
When I was a child, I'd see a movie, I took it for what it was, I enjoyed it. And if I believed it I would tend to be more interested in knowing more about it
Fear may very well be a caveman fear of the predator, of the giant lizard chasing them, maybe that's what Steven Spielberg connects with so well in Lost World
Anybody who's been through a divorce will tell you that at one point. they've thought murder. The line between thinking murder and doing murder isn't that major
This attack was pure chaos, and chaos is energy. All great changes have come from people or events that were initially misunderstood, and seemed frightening, like madmen
I do believe there are leaders who are like lightning and they come along and they lead. The Lincolns of the world, the Alexander the Greats, they do exist. They have existed
I've met people who will go to a movie that I can't stand and they say that they saw that movie ten times. There's something they like and identified in that movie, and I don't see it
I think experience will teach you a combination of liberalism and conservatism. We have to be progressive and at the same time we have to retain values. We have to hold onto the past as we explore the future
Nationalism and patriotism are the two most evil forces that I know of in this century or in any century and cause more wars and more death and more destruction to the soul and to human life than anything else
A woman can be very beautiful and an ideal model and she will photograph incredibly well, but she'll appear in film and it won't work. What works is some fusion of physical beauty with some mental field or whatever you call it. I don't know
I would vote for the man who's lived life, who's done different occupations, who's been out in the real world and struggled to make a living, struggled to raise a family, struggled with life as it exists. So I'd vote for experience, honest experience
You do the best job you can. You take it step by step. It's hard enough to make a movie. If it works, that's great. If it means something beyond the moment to somebody, they can take it and it lasts through the years, we'll see
I have the right to interpretation as a dramatist. I research. It's my responsibility to find the research. It's my responsibility to digest it and do the best that I can with it. But at a certain point that responsibility will become an interpretation
This was the golden boy of all history. I've been trying to make "Alexander" for a long time. In 1991 with Val Kilmer, in 1996 with Tom Cruise. Then Colin Farrell came along, and he was perfect. He was a tough, Tyrone Power, barstool-looking boy from Du
I thought it was a helluva thriller. JFK's murder marked the end of a dream, the end of a concept of idealism that I associate with my youth. Race war, Vietnam, Watergate. If JFK had lived, the combat situation in Vietnam would never have occurred
Well first of all you have to make the character strong so that people can follow that. And then hopefully that character can integrate with the background of the social situation that people can recognize
You're not a historian, but most historians will tell you that they make very discrete judgment as to what facts to omit in order to make their book into some shape, some length that can be managed
When I go to the movies, and I have to sit through ten previews of films that look alike and tell the whole story, you know that we've reached an age of consensus. And consensus is the worst thing for us. We all agree to agree. That's where we lose it all
If anything, if you can get somebody interested in something and get them excited, that's great. You should be praised for having opened the debate and having asked the right questions
Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another. This painting here. I bought it 10 years ago for 60 thousand dollars. I could sell it today for 600. The illusion has become real and the more real it becomes, the more desperately they want it
One of my fantasies in my life has been that I was granted access with a camera to go back in time, and to film the actual campaign of Alexander crossing into India through Iran and Persia
The Indians once told me that stones are the most revered and ancient of recording devices. And that perhaps I am here on this Earth to write of these mute histories, just another stone, an "Oliver" stone
If I were George Bush, I would shoot myself. I think he lives in fear of drinking again. There's nothing more dangerous for America than an ex-alcoholic President who tells you to believe in Jesus

Oliver Stone sayings and pictures

But in answer to your question about the conspiracy angle, I think that any historian worth his salt, and this is where I fault Stephen Ambrose and a lot of these guys who attack me, not all of life is a result of conspiracy by any means! Accident occurs alongside conspiracy
Forget the grand plan. Forget the master scheme. Forget control. That is the bleak but true basis of independent cinema. Inch by motherfuking inch we must, because we have no other choice
I believed in the John Wayne image of America. My father was a Republican, and he taught me that it was a good war because the Communists were the bad guys and we had to fight them. And then there was the romanticism of the Second World War as it appeared