Burt Reynolds Quotes

Give the public what it wants.

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.

I work for the public, for the people who are paying to go to the cinema, rather than for the critics.

As long as artists arbitrarily assume the right to decide what is or is not art, it is logical that the public will just as arbitrarily feel that they have the right to reject it.

In a democracy, you have to find a market niche, make sure a novel is 'interesting' and 'spectacular.' That may be the toughest censorship of all.

Television networks are a lot like automobile manufacturers or anyone else who's in commerce. If something out there catches on with the public... I guess you can call it 'market research.'

When we have a corporation, we must know what the customer wants, what the customers needs. Also, the politician must know what the people want, what the people need.

Give the public what they want. What you want is unimportant.

But, the thing is, since I always had my own little shop and direct access to the public, I've been able to build up a technique without marketing people ever telling me what the public wants.

We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public.

I am someone who pays attention to the currents that are going on socially in terms of what people want. When I catch wind of the types of matches people want, those are the matches I want, too.

If the general public demanded better, they'd get better, because the market­place responds to the public's needs and desires.

The public don't know what they want; it's my job to tell them.

I want people to come see my films and enjoy them but at the end of the day you can't control what people think.

I don't try to guess what a million people will like. It's hard enough to know what I like.

The city's the best gallery I could imagine. I would never have to make a book and then present it to a gallery and let them decide if my work was nice enough to show it to people. I would control it directly with the public in the streets.

My own tastes happen to be in tune with what the public wants. I think that's the reason my batting average is so high, not because I've discovered some brilliant formula.

Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I think the ordinary guy has just as much right to say 'This is a good song' as somebody who is in the music business.

I am not like Hitchcock, directing the reaction of the public or the audience. I don't like that. I think this is some kind of fascism - 'You need to react like that.' No. No. It's not like this; everyone needs to react as he can.

No film should try to follow a trend, and do what film people think the public wants. There's no such thing as knowing what the public wants.

Media is very different from financial services. People are very fickle and very vocal. They believe that things should be one way and not the other. It's still very rewarding to build products for huge audiences. It feels like you're making an impact.

If the audience knew what they wanted then they wouldn't be the audience, they would be the artist.

I try to forget about the expectation that's out there and the audience listening for the next thing so that I'm not trying to please them. I've spent a huge amount of time not communicating with those folks and denying that they exist.

We're not in the business of shaping consumer demand. We respond to it.

The public is always right.