Ridley Scott Quotes

You see, the people that have a point of view and have an opinion and have some intellect are dangerous in the film community - they're dangerous.

I suspect political fiction is at its best precisely when it doesn't preach, but restricts itself to showing the reader a different way of life or thought, and merely makes it clear that this is an end-point or outcome for some kind of political creed.

I don't like politics in music.

All I can do is say I smell a rat. I don't know where it is or what kind of rat it is, but as an artist, I can express how. But I couldn't responsibly stand up and tell people which way to go, because then I'm just as guilty as the people who are telling everybody else what to do and where to go.

I don't know if anybody wants to mix their politics with their entertainment.

I don't intend to simply go away and write my plays and be a good boy. I intend to remain an independent and political intelligence in my own right.

To retain his dignity, an artist must live in opposition. He must be critical of his country. If not, then he is worthless.

I don't see that books can be written without political context - not if they're relevant and ambitious.

I'm not Michael Moore. I think Michael Moore wants to tell you how to think. He wants to give you answers. I make movies to raise my own personal questions and not to give answers.

I don't set out to write a political song. I am not one of those that feels compelled to write about what's going on.

Making art in America is sort of a political statement in and of itself. It's not the best environment for that sometimes.

I'm not a guy who takes films for strong political messages.

I do not believe that any work of art can help but be diminished by its adherence at any cost to a political program ... and not for any other reason than that there is no political program -- any more than there is a theory of tragedy -- which can encompass the complexities of real life.

I do not write political shows; I should not write political shows.

My favorite bad thing about 'Three Billboards' is its ambition to play around with America's ideological and geographical toys.

I want people to know my political point of view. There's an appetite for that, almost an expectation. I also want to make people laugh, but I wouldn't want to do it at the expense of my point of view.

I think when you're in my position as an artist, I can say what I want and talk about the issues that matter.

Nowhere in the job description of an artist is the requirement that I must validate your taste.

I've always been political but I don't like to bring it into my work any more because I think it limits me.

As a musician, I don't wanna put out political soundbites.

'Homeland' is great at challenging our preconceived ideas.

The only duty an artist has is in the quality of the art. There is no moral obligation to denounce. An artist confronted with a tremendous injustice sometimes feels inclined to say something. Denouncing the situation is the artist's choice.

Once you start putting in political subtext, it does create intellectually challenging science-fiction, but with 'Pacific Rim,' I always thought it would be a shame if kids couldn't go see this movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters because it seemed to have a political point of view.

I don't like the notion that artists have a responsibility to be political.

The time-honored role of the artist [is] to speak truth to power.