Best 147 quotes of Joseph Gordon-levitt on MyQuotes

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

A lot of movies try to set up a world with cool sets, costumes, camera work. In Brick, the world is born from the words.

A lot of people, most people who are working, they do it for money. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. It so happens that I made a lot of money already, so I don't have to worry that much about it. I wouldn't fault anybody for doing it for the money, but it doesn't interest me right now.

A lot of the motivation for doing the 'Make 'Em Laugh' on SNL was because I had just finished shooting 'Inception,' where there were zero-gravity scenes and I got into really good shape and was training and did all these stunts. Coming off of that, that instilled me with the confidence to do 'Make 'Em Laugh.'

A man touched me:  his hand... my thigh. I touched him too:  my fist... his jaw.

As an actor, it's always important to understand what the director is after. That, to me, is my job. When I'm acting, I like to ask a lot of questions and understand exactly why the director is doing what they're doing, so that I can provide him or her with the ingredients that they need to get the scene that they want. It's not to challenge them, in any way. It's just so that I can do my job best.

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

Being politically active is "more about doing things, not just standing for some platform or being involved in some political party.

Bikes are clearly a superior form of transportation when it comes to just simple getting around. A car makes sense if you need to carry a bunch of stuff.

But I would encourage anyone who has a crush on my character to watch it again and examine how selfish he is.

Celebrity doesn't have anything to do with art or craft. It's about being rich and thinking that you're better than everybody else.

Certainly the animation technology is growing like crazy. All media technology is.

Comedy takes a very specific technique, specific skills.

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.

Don't we want to escape our real world and go into something larger than that, simpler than that, more beautiful or darker?

eating is the sleeping of being awake.

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.

Even when I was really young, I hated doing commercials, because I would say, "That's not real acting." And it's not. It's embarrassing what they make little kids do in commercials.

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.

Everyone has a unique perspective and that's valid. Everyone's perspective is valid. That doesn't mean that everyone has the same degree of skill level as an entertainer, but skill isn't the only important thing. It's also what kind of perspective and feelings you're bringing to it.

Everyone has the attitude that movies aren't just disposable entertainment - they can really mean something. I love that, because that's the way I feel about films.

Fame has always been a downside to acting for me. It gives me the creeps.

For context, the budget of Don Jon is about half the budget of (500) Days of Summer. And (500) Days of Summer is about a third of the budget of the lowest-budget movies produced at a major studio.

He [Mark Webb] is very savvy, technically, he's shot so many videos, he knows how to get what he wants. The surprise, of course, is that he's also an extremely humanistic story-teller. He's obsessed with story and character, and not just making it look right, which is a double-thred that's rare in directors.

Here's the new art of the twenty-first century: the art of curating, the art of plucking all the good stuff from a superabundance of crap.

His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling.

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.

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

I collect flickering stars in old pickling jars, poking holes in the lids so they can breathe.

I didn't really like doing commercials. You had to behave like you were on angel dust or something.

I didn't want to just work within Hollywood when I started a production company. I wanted to be able to collaborate with great artists from all over the world.

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.

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.

I don't buy into the glory days thing. I think every time has its great things to it. The '60s were such a glorious time but it's easy to forget that there was all sorts of bullshit too.

I don't have any training in dance. I can convince an audience that I know how to dance because I'm a convincing actor.

I don't think action for action's sake is so fun, but when it helps tell the story, I love doing a good fight scene.

I don't think you necessarily have to be the most perfected performer, in order to express your feelings. It's really those feelings that an audience connects with, I think, at least as much as perfected technical skill.

If I were to point to the person who's having the greatest impact... I'd point to Elon Musk.

If more people rode bikes and less people drove cars, the air would be in better shape and people would be in better shape.

If the goal is to get the best artists, actors, and filmmakers in the world to create the best movies, Hollywood does a decent job. And I think no one would disagree with me that it also makes a ton of bad movies and employs a bunch of hacks.

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.

If you don't stick to your plan enough, and you're too seduced by whimsical notions and new ideas, you can kind of lose your train of thought and end up with something that doesn't have a solid through-line.

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

I go through a lot of bad stuff, because most of the stuff that's written is pretty bad. But occasionally something comes along that's good, and I want to do it.

I have an eclectic taste in stuff whether it be movies or music or books or food or anything. Variety is interesting.

I have a pretty eclectic taste in the movies that I like to watch, and also in the movies that I'm inspired to work on.

I just like to do work that inspires me, and I don't pay any attention to whether it's a high- or low-budget movie.

I just love to act. It's my favorite thing to do in the world, and what keeps it interesting, to me, is the creative challenge. So, different kinds of characters, that's what I just love to do.

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

I just want to open up the avenues for people to express themselves. That's what the media ought to be. It shouldn't just be a conveyer belt of shiny products to buy. It should be a way that we're all communicating and understanding each other.