Roger Ebert Quotes

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Roger Ebert

Profession : Critic

Birth : June 18, 1942

I've never found kicks to the groin particularly funny, although recent work in the genre of the buddy movie suggests audience research must prove me wrong.

Roger Ebert

To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

Roger Ebert

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.

Roger Ebert

Life is made up of challenges that cannot be solved but only accepted.

Roger Ebert

We are the playthings of the gods.

Roger Ebert

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

Roger Ebert

My motto: 'No good movie is depressing. All bad movies are depressing.'

Roger Ebert

I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting. My lifetime's memories are what I have brought home from the trip.

Roger Ebert

Clouds do not really look like camels or sailing ships or castles in the sky. They are simply a natural process at work. So too, perhaps, are our lives.

Roger Ebert

What happens in a fantasy can be more involving than what happens in life, and thank goodness for that.

Roger Ebert

Open-heart surgery is now part of a typical life experience for many people. Folks talk casually about 'having a stent put in,' as if they had their tires rotated.

Roger Ebert

Sometimes miraculous films come into being, made by people you've never heard of, starring unknown faces, blindsiding you with creative genius.

Roger Ebert

Dogs notice, they share, they draw conclusions, they like it when they're able to be of service and are touchingly grateful when they're praised.

Roger Ebert

There's nothing like impending death to rouse you from existential boredom.

Roger Ebert

In Hollywood, 'under development' means 'all I have is the title.'

Roger Ebert

It often strikes me that the actors in high school movies look too old.

Roger Ebert

When we're discussing who to invite to a dinner party, my wife Chaz and I sometimes use the shorthand, 'good value for money,' which indicates guests expected to be entertaining.

Roger Ebert

Why has Scandinavia been producing such good thrillers? Maybe because their filmmakers can't afford millions for CGI and must rely on cheaper elements like, you know, stories and characters.

Roger Ebert

Why are some people bullied? Because they are different. How? It doesn't matter.

Roger Ebert

You can't just tell actors, especially young ones, to 'act happy' and expect them to do it. They must in some essential way be happy.

Roger Ebert