Great Throughts Treasury

"Life cannot be explained. The only reason for life is life. There is no why. We are. Life is beyond reason. One might think of life as a large organism, and we are but a small, symbiotic part of it. It is possible that on a spiritual level we are all connected in a way that continues beyond the comings and goings of various life forms. My best guess is that we share a collective spirit or life force or consciousness that encompasses and goes beyond individual life forms."

"Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that's one of the hardest things to do because you don't always know exactly where you're going, and you shouldn't."

"Do or do not; there is no try."

"Always remember, your focus determines your reality."

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

"Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it."

"That way, we built this more interesting character."

"A copyright is held in trust by its owner until it ultimately reverts to public domain. American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history."

"It's animated... It's about the Clone Wars. It's got all our characters fighting the dreaded Federation. And at the same time I'm working on 'Indiana Jones' and I'm working on a film called, 'Red Tail,' which is about African-American fighter pilots.'"

"A lot of people like to do certain things, but they're not that good at it. Keep going through the things that you like to do, until you find something that you actually seem to be extremely good at. It can be anything."

"Although I write screenplays, I don't think I'm a very good writer."

"A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing."

"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing."

"After that only the VHS and DVD copies that people have purchased will be left ... That's not a problem, as each VHS copy has been encrypted to write commands to any VCR that tries to play them after a certain date to erase the tape. Any dubbed copies of these VHS tapes also contain the encryption. DVD copies of movies were easier to protect. After the same date, the DVDs simply won't play, and will come out as digital gibberish if people attempt to copy them after that date."

"As a filmmaker and a lover of cinema, I have always appreciated the many disciplines that go into making a film-- the props, the costumes, all the aspects that come together to make the whole as great as the sum of its parts. I have archived all the important pieces from my own films, and I am a staunch believer it's important that we all make an effort to preserve our cinematic heritage-- before it's too late."

"Archaeology is the search for fact... not truth. If it's truth you're looking for, Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall."

"Being in Washington is more fictional than being in Hollywood."

"As you go through history, I didn't think it was going to get quite this close. So it's just one of those recurring things… I hope this doesn't come true in our country. Maybe the film will waken people to the situation."

"Creating a universe is daunting. I'm glad Jim is doing it - there are only a few people in the world who are nuts enough to. I did it with Star Wars, and now he's trying to challenge that. It's a lot of work. I do believe Jim will take this further out than anyone's ever conceived of. [on James Cameron's Avatar]"

"Either do, or do not, there is no try"

"Even in high school I was very interested in history - why people do the things they do. As a kid I spent a lot of time trying to relate the past to the present."

"Don't avoid the clichés - they are clichés because they work!"

"Everybody has talent, it's just a matter of moving around until you've discovered what it is."

"Film is not an easy occupation. There's a lot of occupations that are difficult and film is one of them."

"Good luck has its storms."

"From being a struggling, starving filmmaker to being incredibly successful in a period of a couple of years is quite a powerful experience, and not necessarily a good one."

"He is one of the best. He's outwitted the empire on numerous occasions, and he has made some very fast deals. One of his problems is that he gambles quite heavily and that's where he loses most of his money. He's tough and sharp, but never manages to scrape together enough to get any power... He's slightly self-destructive and he sort of enjoys being on the brink of disaster... You might meet him and he may be worth ten billion dollars and the next time you meet him he's in debt up to his ears. - Describing Han Solo."

"Football games are on TV, and it doesn't affect stadium attendance at all. It's the same with the movies. People who really love movies and like to go out on a Saturday night will go to the movie theater."

"HAN SOLO: Wonderful girl. Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her."

"He took me from not being able to write a word in terms of writing screenplays to being the king of wooden dialogue."

"Honestly, everyone feels you have to talk about yourself all the time. They say I'm introverted because I don't give many interviews. But I don't give many interviews because I don't make many films."

"I am simply trying to struggle through life; trying to do God's bidding."

"I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them."

"I am the father of our Star Wars movie world - the filmed entertainment, the features and now the animated film and television series. And I'm going to do a live-action television series. Those are all things I am very involved in: I set them up and I train the people and I go through them all. I'm the father; that's my work. Then we have the licensing group, which does the games, toys and books, and all that other stuff. I call that the son - and the son does pretty much what he wants. Then we have the third group, the holy ghost, which is the bloggers and fans. They have created their own world. I worry about the father's world. The son and holy ghost can go their own way."

"I don't know why the fans are so mad... I've been saying all along that they are my movies. Wait until they find out that my merchandising contracts all have the same text in them. When they have to hand over all their Star Wars toys, models, framed pictures, clothes, cups, and everything else to be buried with me, then they'll really flip-out."

"I got the licensing rights because I figured they wouldn't promote the film and if I got posters and T-shirts and things out there with the name of the film on them it would help promote the movie. So, you know, the whole idea that licensing was a revenue stream didn't really occur to anybody, including me."

"I figured if I got posters and T-shirts and things with the name of the movie on it, it would help promote the movie. The whole idea that licensing would be a revenue stream didn't occur to anybody."

"I hate corporations and I'm not happy that they have taken over the film business but on the same hand I find myself being the head of a corporation. There's a certain irony there."

"I have hundreds of projects that I want to do, and I'm running out of time - so they'll never get done, I'm afraid."

"I loved photography and everybody said it was a crazy thing to do because in those days nobody made it into the film business. I mean, unless you were related to somebody there was no way in."

"I see it as an opportunity to save the park... I love the park. I did not want to see it turned into a shopping mall."

"I put all of my resources into pushing the evolution in an industry that is notoriously backwards and I enjoy pushing that envelope."

"I took over control of the merchandising not because I thought it was going to make me rich, but because I wanted to control it. I wanted to make a stand for social, safety, and quality reasons. I didn't want someone using the name Star Wars on a piece of junk."

"I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public."

"I was hoping it would, you know, gross somewhere around $30 million or something, which is what most science fiction films -- the best ones -- had done."

"I wanted to make a kids' film that would strengthen contemporary mythology."

"If the boy and girl walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand in the last scene, it adds 10 million to the box office."

"I wanted to make abstract films that are emotional, and I still do."

"If you can tune into the fantasy life of an 11-year-old girl, you can make a fortune in this business."

"I was very lucky that we were able to create something that stimulated the imagination of young people,"