Penn Jillette Quotes

Movies have power. Power to impact society and the choices we make. I want to entertain, but I also want to say something to the world.

All my films are all my children.

I love writing. I think writing and directing go hand in hand.

You can't help but have your children and your family be part of what you dream about when you dream up a song.

We tried to make a movie that had sex and violence because we like sex and violence.

We are filmmakers, and we are specifically trying to entertain people.

I'm a family man, I have kids, and I go to the movies. And I'm just going to make the kind of movie I want to see.

As a media artist and filmmaker, I'm constantly considering the role of situational context when creating my work.

I love fantasy. I love horror. I love musicals. Whatever doesn't really happen in life is what I'm interested in. As a way of commenting on everything that does happen in life, because ultimately the only thing I'm really interested in is people.

My films, I've tried to put a message into them. It's not about the gore; it's not about the horror element that are in them. It's more about the message, for me. That's what it is, and I'm using this platform to be able to show my feelings of what I think.

You can't get so serious as to not realize that what we do is entertainment, but when you have the chance to provoke thought or advance discussion on a topic, it's just the icing on the cake.

The social dimension of the art world is fascinating to me, but I also want to entertain the reader, so I will let a character say something funny.

I think the job of artists is to stir things up.

Films are pushing envelopes in terms of what is horrific, but also on other areas: in video games, in comic books and outside life.

It's a great privilege to make a film, to have it shown, and for people to see it.

Big movie or small movie, you make this thing, and then you show it to people, and you just hope they like it. You hope it works.

There's always this debate about how we need more good films but how many are willing to be part of such films.

Somebody has to make good artistic films. Somebody has to break open the doors so that others also will follow and make good and meaningful films.

My main object in making a motion picture is entertainment. If at the same time I can strike a blow for liberty, then I'll stick one in.

I’d like to be remembered as someone who used their ability as a novelist or as a dramatist to say the things he felt needed to be said about the society while being as entertaining as possible. Because if you don’t entertain, nobody’s listening.

People sometimes think I take a white canvas and paint a black sign on it,but this is not true.I paint the white as well as the black and the white is just as important.

Art is art. Television has elevated itself, in certain ways, but it's always pushed people's consciousness.

You've got to concentrate on the business of entertaining and writing songs. Always think different from the next person. Don't ever do a song as you heard somebody else do it.

You don't necessarily have to go to film school to be a brilliant film maker. If you are a good listener and you study life, and you find that story that is buried within each and every one of us, and you figure out a way to bring that out. And sometimes it doesn't necessarily mean money or winning the lottery.