Terry Southern Quotes

• The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish.

  Terry Southern

  Writing, Important, Capacity

  50 Copy quote

• I'm not interested in attacking, I'm interested in astonishing.

  Terry Southern

  Attacking, Not Interested, Astonishing

  18 Copy quote

• There is no power on earth that can loosen a man's grip on his own throat

  Terry Southern

  Men, Earth, Throat

  13 Copy quote

• An angel has no memory.

  Terry Southern

  Memories, Angel, No Memory

  "Fictional character: Pygar". "Barbarella", 1968.

  7 Copy quote

• I don't know why, but I always feel a kind of necessity to write things that are beyond acceptance, that are too offensive or something. For people to read them and say, Ha-ha-ha, very funny. No, we can't print that.

  Terry Southern

  Writing, Acceptance, People

  10 Copy quote

• An absolutely devastating ridicule of all that is false, primitive, and vicious in current American life: the abuses of power, hero worship, aimless violence, materialistic obsession, intolerance, and every form of hypocrisy.

  Terry Southern

  Hero, Hypocrisy, Abuse

  5 Copy quote

• You can't do the end of the world in a conventionally dramatic way or Boy Meets Girl way.

  Terry Southern

  Girl, Boys, World

  8 Copy quote

• In that sense, film is superior, but the difficulty is your lack of control as a writer.

  Terry Southern

  Film, Difficulty, Lack Of Control

  9 Copy quote

• I learned not to care ... and to write for an imaginary reader whose tastes were similar to my own.

  Terry Southern

  Writing, Taste, Care

  5 Copy quote

• I like to work at night.

  Terry Southern

  Night

  4 Copy quote

• When I finally made it to the set, I spent a lot of time doing damage control on The Magic Christian.

  Terry Southern

  Christian, Damage Control, Magic

  8 Copy quote

• It's often the case with directors that they don't like to share credit, which is the case of Stanley. He would prefer just A Film By Stanley Kubrick including music and everything.

  Terry Southern

  Directors, Credit, Film

  5 Copy quote

• Someone wrote a piece about Henry Green in The Partisan Review that was so intriguing that I got one of his novels, Loving, I believe, which was the first that came to attention in the United States.

  Terry Southern

  Believe, Firsts, United States

  16 Copy quote

• I met The Beatles and Stones at the same time, because Michael Cooper was doing several of their album covers.

  Terry Southern

  Albums, Stones, Mets

  53 Copy quote

• The Loved One has been the most underrated film I've worked on.

  Terry Southern

  Film, Loved Ones, Underrated

  7 Copy quote

• It was a good experience working with Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda.

  Terry Southern

  Roger, Good Experiences, Jane

  4 Copy quote

• David Burnett was the son of Martha Foley, who edited the Best American Short Stories series. She hired me to work with David and her to read stories for the anthology.

  Terry Southern

  Son, Stories, Anthology

  7 Copy quote

• I met Claxton on the set of The Cincinnati Kid.

  Terry Southern

  Kids, Mets

  4 Copy quote

• After Strangelove I also started work on an adaptation of The Collector.

  Terry Southern

  Adaptation, Collectors

  8 Copy quote

• In the case of The Loved One, I was hired to collaborate on an updated version of the book.

  Terry Southern

  Book, Loved Ones, Cases

  4 Copy quote

• For a director and a producer to be named on the writing credits is practically unheard of.

  Terry Southern

  Writing, Directors, Credit

  7 Copy quote

• Peter Beard is one of those people I've known a long time. We have an affinity. We share certain values.

  Terry Southern

  Long, People, Beard

  8 Copy quote

• When Kubrick decided to go the black comedy route with his movie, he thought of me to give it that flavor.

  Terry Southern

  Giving, Black, Flavor

  52 Copy quote

• Sometimes we would be staked out in the middle of the river, several barges tied together. So we could party.

  Terry Southern

  Party, Rivers, Together

  7 Copy quote

• Writing on a contract for a major studio you get the very best.

  Terry Southern

  Writing, Contracts, Studios

  6 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Stanley Kubrick

Peter Fonda

Dennis Hopper

Peter Sellers

George Plimpton

George C. Scott

Roger Vadim

Sterling Hayden