David Levithan Quotes

Without ethics, man has no future. This is to say, mankind without them cannot be itself. Ethics determine choices and actions and suggest difficult priorities.

I think with any characterization there's a point where you empathize, no matter how much of a deviance his or her actions may be from your understanding of humanity.

I never see my bad guys as simply bad. They want pretty much the same thing that you and I want: they want to be happy.

It is only our humanity that can deliver us from the brutality of our achievements.

I'm always interested in getting to know people, and that means vilified people as much as those celebrated. You find out that heroes aren't always so heroic, and villains have some bit of humanity in them.

'Ida' is about humanity, about guilt and forgiveness. It's not a film that deals with an issue as such. It's more universal.

It is easier to hate an enemy with much good in him than one who is all bad. We cannot hate those we despise.

Whenever there is a conflict between universal principles and self-interest, self-interest is likely to prevail.

I want to see these bad, bad, bad, bad men come to grips with their humanity.

In 'Garden Party' or '40 Days and 40 Nights,' I played characters who people don't necessarily like; I just find some humanity in them.

I feel like life is much greater than a hero or a villain: there's good people that sometimes make mistakes.

I think for really good-hearted people, that idea of putting yourself in the shoes of a monster to figure out why they acted that way, that's a really frightening idea.

Human nature is complex. Even if we do have inclinations toward violence, we also have inclination to empathy, to cooperation, to self-control.

A novel can grant humanity even to those who act inhumanely, and by making men and women of monsters, it can offer not only a ground-level view of a particular conflict, but a descent into the substratum of human nature capable of the incomprehensible.

I'm sure there's a right way and there's a wrong way. The bottom line is you have to do what you think is right.

I always look at films as real stories with real people in real situations. That's why I struggle with the whole notion of calling someone the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy', because I think we all have potential to do good things and all have the potential to do bad things.

I think that Gollum is really the character who is a very human character, and he's very flawed, like most humans are, and has good and bad sides.

We like Batman - we understand him, we suffer with him. On the other hand, we want to be Superman. But they're conflicting philosophies. Let's bring them together in one movie and see how we, as an audience, wrestle with our inner demons.

Mankind is not likely to salvage civilization unless he can evolve a system of good and evil which is independent of heaven and hell.

Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular all his life long.

I've never thought about it before, but I suppose bad people might need someone to pray to, too.

For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?

I think that unless you can take judgments of right and wrong like an automaton, you must have emotions because that is our only way of moral guidance.

I try not to do anything that's immoral.

The fundamental basis of ethics must be chosen in some non-scientific way.