I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. Roger Ebert More Quotes by Roger Ebert More Quotes From Roger Ebert I am as fond of colorful language as anyone, but I try not to inflict it upon strangers. I suspect many people sense they should have better manners, and need only a nudge. In high school, I was addressed for the first time in my life as "Mister Ebert" by Stanley Hynes, an English teacher, and his formality transformed his classroom into a place where a certain courtliness prevailed. Roger Ebert teacher life school A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it. Roger Ebert unsuspecting If there's anything I hate more than a stupid action comedy, it's an incompetent stupid action comedy. It's not so bad it's good. It's so bad it's nothing else but bad. Roger Ebert comedy hate stupid You can't just tell actors, especially young ones, to 'act happy' and expect them to do it. They must in some essential way be happy. Roger Ebert essentials actors way I was born inside the movie of my life. The visuals were before me, the audio surrounded me, the plot unfolded inevitably but not necessarily. I don't remember how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me. Roger Ebert audio plot remember In these days of high-tech video games, it's remarkable that kids once got incredibly thrilled while pushing little metal racing cars around a cardboard track: The toy car was yours, and you invested it with importance and enhanced it with fantasy and pitied it because it was small, like you were. Such games were weapons against the ennui of endless Saturdays. Roger Ebert track games kids I have no fear of death. We all die. I consider my remaining days to be like money in the bank. When it is all gone, I will be repossessed. Roger Ebert fear-of-death no-fear gone At the end of the day, some authors will endure and most, including some very good ones, will not. Why do I think reading is important? It is such an effective medium between mind and mind. We think largely in words. A medium made only of words doesn't impose the barrier of any other medium. It is naked and unprotected communication. That's how you get pregnant. May you always be so. Roger Ebert communication reading thinking Nothing could be more boring than an absolutely accurate movie about the law. Roger Ebert accurate boring law One difference between film noir and more straightforward crime pictures is that noir is more open to human flaws and likes to embed them in twisty plot lines. Roger Ebert plot-lines noir differences On this ancient and miraculous world, where such beautiful natural and living things have evolved, something has gone wrong when life itself is used as a manufacturing process. Roger Ebert gone beautiful world Going to a movie so you won't be offended is like eating potato chips made with Olestra; you avoid the dangers of the real thing, but your insides fill up with synthetic runny stuff. Roger Ebert potato-chips real stuff Catholic theology believes that God gave man free will, and you can't give somebody free will and then send in a play from the sidelines. Roger Ebert play men believe A film is a terrible thing to waste. Roger Ebert waste film terrible A depressing number of people seem to process everything literally. They are to wit as a blind man is to a forest, able to find every tree, but each one coming as a surprise. Roger Ebert depressing numbers men People never think of themselves as choosing to be politically correct. They simply think in the way that they do. Roger Ebert people way thinking Show me a sexual practice that involves ice cubes and hot sauce, and I will show you a sexual practice that would be improved without them. Roger Ebert ice would-be hot From a dramatic viewpoint, there are few professions that grant their members entry into other lives, high among them cops, doctors, clergymen, journalists and prostitutes. Perhaps that explains why they figure in so much television and cinema. Their lives are lived in the midst of human drama. Roger Ebert doctors cinema drama Blockbusters run the mainstream industry. We may never again have a decade like the 1970s, when directors were able to find such freedom. Roger Ebert may running directors Exhilarating. Radical Grace moved me to tears with its portrayal of good people putting their beliefs into action in ways that transcend all ideological boundaries. Roger Ebert tears grace people
