Harrison Ford Quotes

You want to sell records, but if you want to call yourself an artist, your job is how you express yourself.

I respect the system out there in Hollywood, I really do, but I'm very intent on art versus commerce. I want to do it all - film, TV and theatre - if it's the right job.

If my films don't show a profit, I know I'm doing something right.

People think it's suspect and self-indulgent to make art, and I don't think that's true. Some people think you should be busy making something that you can sell in the marketplace, and if nobody wants to buy it, it must be crap. And that's not true.

If writers were good businessmen, they'd have too much sense to be writers.

There's certain artists that are meant to have certain paths and go the way of the corporate world. And then there are artists who are artists.

There's a difference between making the music for a check vs. what you think you should be doing artistically and creatively.

My work is trying to at least define myself on my own terms, and then if other people enjoy things that's a lovely addition.

I may not get the opportunity to make movies for my whole life, but I'm going to make movies for the rest of my life. Maybe studios won't pay for it, but I'm going to do it because I love it. So, I just have to be proud of what I make, and what I'm trying to say in what I make. If people don't like it or people don't see it, that's beyond what I can control. I'm a storyteller, and people are going to listen or not and like it or not. That's only solidified over time.

The writer's only responsibility is to his art.

Do not set out to write with your eyes on the box office. It can't be done.

I figure as an artist the best thing you can do is follow your heart - and if your heart is marketable, then you win.

I try to keep my artistic opinions not so much "to myself" but "on myself."

I never retouch a sketch: I take a canvas the same size, as I may change the composition somewhat. But I always strive to give the same feeling, while carrying it on further.

You want to give the director what they want, and you don't always know exactly how it goes, so you want to try it a few different ways. You have to be flexible; you have to be in collaboration with the director; you have to be versatile. But you also want to be protective of what you really believe in and how you feel it should be portrayed.

You have to remain strong. That's the kind of filmmaker I want to encourage. Orson Welles was the one who said, you know, you can learn anything you need to know about filmmaking- that's camera, sound, celluloid, video at this point- in four hours. It has nothing to do with anything. It has nothing to do with it... It has to do with what you want to say. If you feel you have something to say, you'll find that way to get it said, on film, and not let anyone or anything chip away at that or tarnish it, because it's something special and precious.

I don't want the world to give me anything for my books except money enough to save me from the temptation to write only for money.

I try to cast really good actors and give them a chance to do their very best work, give them as much time and space as they need.

Maybe I'll have something out by Christmas, maybe not. I don't know, I'm really trying to take my time and do what feels right. (about the next step in her music career)

The moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist.

When I was on the big labels, I never calculated what would make me sell more records. I just did what I did -no different than when I wrote songs for myself in high-school.

It’s also true that I might have never made Taxi Driver [1976] were it not for the success of Alice [Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, 1974]. The question of commercialism is a source of worry. Must one make a choice, must it be a matter of either setting your sights on winning an Academy Award and becoming a millionaire, or making only the movies you want to make and starving to death?

I'm not in competition with nobody. I want to make good music for my fans who want it, who enjoy it, who learn something from it. And that's what it is.

it's difficult in Hollywood to be allowed to try anything. It's all a terrible compromise. There is no time for art. All that matters is what they call box office.

The object of art is not to make salable pictures. It is to save yourself.