Tony Scott Quotes

The research is the most interesting part… That’s how I work. I go some place and I walk it and I talk to people until I find what I’ve come for. Or not. Fortunately, I tend to find what I’m after.

In time I began to understand that it's when you start writing that you really find out what you don't know and need to know.

In much of society, research means to investigate something you do not know or understand.

You can theorize as much as you want about what you think you're seeing, but until you get out there and dig, you can't tell exactly what it is.

I've done quite a few things based on real events or real people, and I think that's always really interesting that you can read about them or, if you're lucky, you can meet them.

When writing 'Give and Take' and 'Originals,' the predominant emotion for me was curiosity.

People dig exploration.

The real world is where I get to educate and entertain myself. I go and touch the real world and touch real people. That's my way into movies.

When I don't know the answer to something, I write a book about it because it gives me a chance to explore it and go to some people who do have the answers.

Writing has got to be an act of discovery. Finding out things about what one is writing about.

Basically, I'm a perpetual student. I start by finding a subject I really don't know very much, but that I'm curious about. I learn about it through books in a library, by doing interviews with people who know a lot about the subject, and by going out on my own and seeing for myself what's happening.

You can't just live in phenomenon and not research it.

When curiosity turns to serious matters, it's called research.

I study a lot of the greats; I study the current people out now and what people are listening to now. I don't shun anything away; I just check it all out and make my own judgment.

My inspiration is really very simple: I'm struck by things that I want to know more about. I really do react just as a curious person: who is this person? What's the story behind this situation? Why do people like this or dislike this thing?

Traveling really inspires me, seeing other cities and going on tour. If you've got fans online, it's hard to remember those people are real people.

Sometimes you find the panel, but it doesn’t open; sometimes it opens, and your gaze meets nothing but a mouse skeleton. But at least you’ve looked. That’s the real distinction between people: not between those who have secrets and those who don’t, but between those who want to know everything and those who don’t. This search is a sign of love I maintain.

We do not write what we know; we write what we want to find out.

Discovery still happens in the writing. You start in nonfiction with a whole lot more going for you, because all the discovery isn't waiting to be made. You've made some of it in the research. As you get deeper into a piece and do more research, the notes are in the direction of the piece - you're actually writing it.

I am an artist... It's self-evident that what that word implies is looking for something all the time without ever finding it in full. It is the opposite of saying, 'I know all about it. I've already found it.' As far as I'm concerned, the word means, 'I am looking. I am hunting for it. I am deeply involved.'

First doubt, then inquire, then discover. This has been the process with all our great thinkers.

I am a great believer in research and innovation.

The research. It is always the best part of writing. And, of course, it is the great excuse to travel.

A man of science doesn't discover in order to know, he wants to know in order to discover.