23 Top Stanley Kubrick Quotes That Will Make Your Life Worth Living

Famous As: One of the Greatest Filmmakers in Cinematic History

Born On: 1928

Died On: 1999

Born In: Manhattan, New York, United States

Died At Age: 70

Stanley Kubrick was an British-American director, photographer, editor, screenwriter, cinematographer and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers to have ever existed. He studied at William Howard Taft High School and after that he learnt all the different facets of film-making on his own without stepping into a film school. Kubrick started his career as a photographer and one of his earliest jobs was with ‘Look’ magazine. In 1956, his first Hollywood film, titled ‘The Killing’, was released and he followed it up with ‘Paths of Glory’ and then ‘Spartacus’; both of which made him a noted name in the industry. Kubrick’s career changed completely in 1961 when he moved to the United Kingdom. Some of the films that he made at that time turned him into a legend. Some of his renowned films include ‘Lolita’, ‘Dr. Strangelove’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘The Shining’ and arguably his greatest ever film ‘A Clockwork Orange’. Kubrick was a man far ahead of his time and his films are still watched all over the world for his signature style. His films, dialogues, work, thoughts and writings have become popular quotations and are frequently quoted by people. Read on a compilation of thoughts, sayings and quotes by Stanley Kubrick.

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Film & Theater Personalities

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.
Stanley Kubrick

If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.

If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.
Stanley Kubrick

If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.

If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.
You
Stanley Kubrick

The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.

The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
Like
Stanley Kubrick

I do not always know what I want, but I do know what I don't want.

I do not always know what I want, but I do know what I don't want.
I
Stanley Kubrick

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.
Like Music
Stanley Kubrick

The dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive

The dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive
Stanley Kubrick

I never learned anything at all in school and didn't read a book for pleasure until I was 19 years old.

I never learned anything at all in school and didn't read a book for pleasure until I was 19 years old.
Never I
Stanley Kubrick

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Stanley Kubrick

Observation is a dying art.
Art
Stanley Kubrick

Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but the best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.

Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but the best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.
Young
Stanley Kubrick

The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.

The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.
Power Hope Art
Stanley Kubrick

The destruction of this planet would have no significance on a cosmic scale.

The destruction of this planet would have no significance on a cosmic scale.
Stanley Kubrick

You're an idealist, and I pity you as I would the village idiot.

You're an idealist, and I pity you as I would the village idiot.
You I
Stanley Kubrick

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later?" Stanley Kubrick
Like Music
Stanley Kubrick

If chess has any relationship to film-making, it would be in the way it helps you develop patience and discipline in choosing between alternatives at a time when an impulsive decision seems very attractive.

If chess has any relationship to film-making, it would be in the way it helps you develop patience and discipline in choosing between alternatives at a time when an impulsive decision seems very attractive.
You Time Relationship
Stanley Kubrick

The book can also be a hat.
Stanley Kubrick

A filmmaker has almost the same freedom as a novelist has when he buys himself some paper.

A filmmaker has almost the same freedom as a novelist has when he buys himself some paper.
Stanley Kubrick

The most terrifying fact about the universe not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent

The most terrifying fact about the universe not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent
Stanley Kubrick

The destruction of this universe would have no significance on a cosmic scale.

The destruction of this universe would have no significance on a cosmic scale.
Stanley Kubrick

Take a stress pill and think things over-- HAL in 2001

Take a stress pill and think things over-- HAL in 2001
Think
Stanley Kubrick

The lasting and ultimately most important reputation of a film is not based on reviews, but on what, if anything, people say about it over the years, and on how much affection for it they have.

The lasting and ultimately most important reputation of a film is not based on reviews, but on what, if anything, people say about it over the years, and on how much affection for it they have.
Stanley Kubrick