Joseph Gordon-Levitt Quotes

Even today, in our progressive times, in most movies that come out, the men have to have biceps and the women have to be thin or something.

The spiral in a snail's shell is the same mathematically as the spiral in the Milky Way galaxy, and it's also the same mathematically as the spirals in our DNA. It's the same ratio that you'll find in very basic music that transcends cultures all over the world.

My dad never blew anything up, but he probably had friends who did. He and my mom have always preached that the pen is mightier than a Molotov cocktail.

It's less about what you do and more about who you are doing it with.

I don't blame the people for the fact that so many movies are bad. I think there's a corrupt, perverted, lazy and sloppy attitude that's pervasive in the movie business. The whole entertainment business is kind of crumbling around us.

Media used to be one way. Everyone else in the world just had to listen. Now the internet is allowing what used to be a monologue to become a dialogue. I think that's healthy.

If you're going to put yourself above everybody else, you might end up alone.

The sun is such a lonely star. Whenever he comes out to see his friends, they all disappear.

The most valiant thing you can do as an artist is inspire someone else to be creative.

If you know which way the current is going, you can use it to your advantage.

The Internet is allowing us to get back to what's really more natural, which is that storytelling is a shared thing. It's our natural way to be communal.

Every day I've got to be thankful that I am alive, and you never know - the cliche is, I guess, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow, so you'd better be at peace with whatever you got going at the moment.

When I was Younger, I wanted to be something.Now, I just want to be younger.

I'm tired of being tired of being tired of being.

I just need some time away to remember why I stay.

There's an absolute prejudice that good movies are dramas and comedies are more dismissable. But I couldn't disagree more.

The thing about Occupy is that the sentiment the movement embodies is timeless: Don't be greedy, share.

This is the saddest, most depressing music I've ever heard. It makes me so happy.

I lost you when you left me to find yourself.

Success is not important to me, nor are power or money. If the script feels good, then I'm in. It's that simple.

When I'm on set, I do whatever I can to find my focus. One thing that stays pretty consistent for all my jobs is, I listen to a lot of music while I'm working. Because when there's all this stuff going on, for me to be able to put on headphones and listen to music helps me keep my focus,. A big part of creating a character for me is finding the general palette for what kind of music I'm going to be listening to.

Your heart has a little empty corner. You won't even know I'm there -- I'll be very quiet.

I think there is something beautiful in reveling in sadness. The proof is how beautiful sad songs can be. So I don’t think being sad is to be avoided. It’s apathy and boredom you want to avoid. But feeling anything is good, I think. Maybe that’s sadistic of me.

It's worth paying attention to the roles that are sort of dictated to us and that we don't have to fit into those roles. We can be anybody we wanna be.

The doctor's wife ate two apples a day, just to be safe. But her husband kept coming home.

Once you spend time with [the afflicted], you start recognizing them as individuals, as opposed to lumping them in with everybody else who might have those symptoms.

In the old days, people would gather around the fire, or they would gather at a tavern, and they'd tell a story. And then, maybe a week later, someone would tell the same story, but with a different twist on it. That's how folk takes evolved.

The element of surprise wasn't allowed near the Periodic Table.

I do feel that even though I didn't grow up being a big sci-fi fan or comic books or superhero fan, I felt myself definitely gravitate towards these movies that have a high concept and yet they're giving you a moral dilemma within that.

Storytelling in general is a communal act. Throughout human history, people would gather around, whether by the fire or at a tavern, and tell stories. One person would chime in, then another, maybe someone would repeat a story they heard already but with a different spin. It's a collective process.

Your kisses are snowflakes: each one is unique. They land on me, before they melt away and leave me cold.

We’re all beautiful. We all deserve attention.

The universe is not made up of atoms; it’s made up of tiny stories.

I think our culture is sick and tired of fluffy nonsense and people want something more sincere and heartfelt.

I was just watching baby videos of me and I was obviously an exhibitionist.

Darkness is a lot of what art is and certainly in our community a lot of it is people sort of wrestling with their demons.

Let's face it, most pretty girls aren't funny.

As soon as you are trying to be funny or dramatic, that's when things start feeling fake and boring.

I think there is something beautiful in reveling in sadness

When you believe that you can do something that's when you can do it.

When I started editing on my home computer, I said to myself, 'Well, I could be at home studying for a class or I could be at home editing a video.'

Actors didn't use to be celebrities. A hundred years ago, they put the theaters next to the brothels.

Supermarket tabloids and celebrity gossip shows are not just innocently shallow entertainment, but a fundamental part of a much larger movement that involves apathy, greed and hierarchy.

Hollywood has the idea that movies have to be dumb. But especially movies for or about teenagers have to be really dumb!

When I arrived at Columbia, I gave up acting and became interested in all things French. French poetry, French history, French literature.

Normally you read a screenplay - and I read a lot of them - and the characters don't feel like people. They feel like plot devices or cliches or stereotypes.

Hollywood can be an exclusive place. Who gets to be on TV, or who gets to make TV can be a small clique of an industry. There's so many talented, skilled people, all over the world, that might not have the connections or the opportunities to work in TV.

If the inspiration is genuine and it's coming from the right place, that's what I like and want to be a part of.

Real life is not as simple as it is on a screen. I think real life is actually a lot more beautiful.

I think the reason I was able to get the jobs I did is because I worked for some very strong, self-possessed filmmakers who wouldn't listen to the executive-suited wisdom, and they believed in me from director to actor. Not from salesman to commodity.