Barry Levinson Quotes

It's not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.

People who work with me say I have a four-step response to new ideas: rejection, reconsideration, acceptance, ownership. I need to listen more patiently.

I don’t give a damn where an idea comes from. If it’s good, use it.

When you work with an actor and then you discover new things that are better, I think you gotta be free to be able to go with the new things that you're finding. I think that's very important. I have a strong idea when I go to shoot a movie but I also love to discover things when I'm on set as well.

I come from the place of thinking, 'Whatever works for people' - and if you haven't been exposed to anything else, you really don't know better.

I have to be more universal than my projects, but no less innovative.

An open-minded person running a business might catch a problem faster than a closed-minded person. And when they identify a problem, they can fix it much faster.

The test of truth in life is not whether we can remember what we learned in school, but whether we are prepared for change.

If men can learn to be less defensive, more open to others, and more accepting of accountability, they will adapt well to the new global economy.

I'm a guy that wants the movie to work. So whatever it takes or whatever you got to do - I'm happy to do.

Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king.

Creativity has always depended on openness and flexibility, so let us hope for more of both in the future.

I come from a background where I like collaboration and improv. I think that it is important.

I've never had a grand plan. I've only just tried to keep open to many different possibilities, have fun and work with people who are passionate about what they do.

Part of being innovative in government is sometimes not trying to plot out the last chapter of the book, but to be open and see what comes back.

You know, I've always been very open to any project.

As an architect, you cannot be so arrogant as to say you are 100% sure about what you do.

I just love to collaborate with people who take my ideas real serious, and they don't put up walls around them.

Any part I do is a marriage of the words - what the playwright or producer or show runner's vision is - to how I would play it. It took me a while to get rid of 'Oh, they want it this way, so I'm going to do it how they want it.'

I've never taken any issue off the table for lack of suitability. Only for lack of imagination.

When you collaborate, you have to be willing to scrap a lot.

I'm always open to the possibility that somebody's got a better idea than I have. It happens with some frequency.

You have to be very flexible and understand as a director, especially as a writer/director, that you cannot hang onto stuff really hard. You have to be ready to accept those happy accidents and to anticipate that they are going to happen and capitalize on them.

I am always looking for options that yield something unexpected.

It takes intellectual stamina to stay open, as a leader and a mind, to absorb information and adversity.