Quotes by Roger Ebert

About Roger Ebert:

Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. As of 2010, his reviews were syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. Ebert also published more than 20 books and dozens of collections of reviews.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In my reviews, I feel it's good to make it clear that I'm not proposing objective truth, but subjective reactions; a review should reflect the immediate experience.

Roger Ebert

Open-heart surgery is now part of a typical life experience for many people. Folks talk casually about 'having a stent put in,' as if they had their tires rotated.

Roger Ebert

It's easier to identify with loss than love, because we have had so much more experience of it.

Roger Ebert

I begin to feel like most Americans don't understand the First Amendment, don't understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don't understand that it's the responsibility of the citizen to speak out.

Roger Ebert

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

To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, an...

Roger Ebert

The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His.

Roger Ebert

If a movie is really working, you forget for two hours your Social Security number and where your car is parked. You are having a vicarious experience. You are identifying, in one way or another, with the people on the screen.

Roger Ebert

I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting. My lifetime's memories are what I ha...

Roger Ebert

There's nothing like impending death to rouse you from existential boredom.

Roger Ebert

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

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

Roger Ebert

Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other 'isms' grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, cl...

Roger Ebert

I know as a critic I'm required to have a well-armored heart. I must be a cynical wise guy to show my great sophistication. No pushover, me.

Roger Ebert

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.

Roger Ebert

Many really good films allow us to empathize with other lives.

Roger Ebert

The idea that a book can advise a woman how to capture a man is touchingly naive. Books advising men how to capture a woman are far less common, perhaps because few men are willing to admit to such a difficulty. For both sexes, I recommend a good nov...

Roger Ebert

My motto: 'No good movie is depressing. All bad movies are depressing.'

Roger Ebert

It is hard enough to be good at all, but to be good in comedy speaks for your character.

Roger Ebert

Why has Scandinavia been producing such good thrillers? Maybe because their filmmakers can't afford millions for CGI and must rely on cheaper elements like, you know, stories and characters.

Roger Ebert

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

Author Bio

  • NameRoger Ebert
  • DescriptionAmerican film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter
  • AliasesRoger Joseph Ebert
  • BornJune 18, 1942
  • DiedApril 4, 2013
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionScreenwriter; Film Critic; Journalist; Reporter; Writer
  • AwardsPulitzer Prize For Criticism