Robert McKee Quotes

Quotes about:

• Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.

  Robert McKee

  Leadership, Morning, Powerful

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  76 Copy quote

• To connect to people at the deepest level, you need stories.

  Robert McKee

  People, Needs, Stories

  11 Copy quote

• Life is chaotic and meaningless, and you have to find your meaning. You must find the answer, you can't just live. That's the point of story: helping you find your meaning in life.

  Robert McKee

  Stories, Answers, Helping

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• Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.

  Robert McKee

  Meaningful, Powerful, Creative

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• Stories are the currency of human relationships.

  Robert McKee

  Stories, Currency, Humans

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• Stories are how we remember; we tend to forget lists and bullet points.

  Robert McKee

  Stories, Bullets, Lists

  "Storytelling That Moves People". Interview with Bronwyn Fryer, hbr.org. June 2003.

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• Leaders use story to author the future.

  Robert McKee

  Leader, Stories, Use

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• A fine work of art - music, dance, painting, story - has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.

  Robert McKee

  Art, Silence, Mind

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• Story isn't a flight from reality but a vehicle that carries us on our search for reality.

  Robert McKee

  Reality, Stories, Flight

  Robert McKee (2010). “Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting”, p.12, Harper Collins

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• When talented people write badly, it's generally for one of two reasons: Either they're blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove of they're driven by an emotion they must express. When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason: They're moved by a desire to touch the audience.

  Robert McKee

  Writing, Ideas, Two

  Robert McKee (2010). “Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting”, p.7, Harper Collins

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• Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty, study thoughtfully but write boldly. Then, like the hero of the fable, your dance will dazzle the world.

  Robert McKee

  Hero, Writing, Skills

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• Story is metaphor for life and life is lived in time.

  Robert McKee

  Stories, Life Is, Metaphor

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• A culture cannot evolve without honest, powerful storytelling. When a society repeatedly experiences glossy, hollowed-out, pseudo-stories, it degenerates. We need true satires and tragedies, dramas and comedies that shine a clean light into the dingy corners of the human psyche and society.

  Robert McKee

  Powerful, Drama, Light

  Robert McKee (2010). “Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting”, p.13, Harper Collins

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• Stories build cultures by answering the big questions.

  Robert McKee

  Culture, Stories, Bigs

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• God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character.

  Robert McKee

  Writing, Character, Voice

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• What happens is fact, not truth. Truth is what we think about what happens.

  Robert McKee

  Inspirational, Thinking, Stories

  Robert McKee (2010). “Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting”, p.25, Harper Collins

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• All writing is discipline, but screenwriting is a drill sergeant.

  Robert McKee

  Writing, Discipline, Drill Sergeant

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• Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly.

  Robert McKee

  Profound, Choices, Given

  Robert McKee (2010). “Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting”, p.28, Harper Collins

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• We often put off doing something for as long as possible, then as we finally make the decision and step into the action, we're surprised by its relative ease. We're left to wonder why we dreaded it until we realize that most of life's actions are within our reach, but decisions take willpower.

  Robert McKee

  Long, Decision, Ease

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• Secure writers don't sell first drafts. They patiently rewrite until the script is as director-ready, as actor-ready as possible. Unfinished work invites tampering, while polished, mature work seals its integrity.

  Robert McKee

  Integrity, Unfinished Work, Theatre

  Robert McKee (2010). “Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting”, p.7, Harper Collins

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• The mark of a master is to select only a few moments, but give us a lifetime.

  Robert McKee

  Giving, Moments, Lifetime

  Robert McKee (2010). “Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting”, p.31, Harper Collins

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• Of all the reasons for wanting to write, the only one that nurtures us through time is love of the work itself.

  Robert McKee

  Writing, Rough Times, Reason

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• When we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we want meaningful emotional experience, we go to the storyteller.

  Robert McKee

  Meaningful, Emotional, Museums

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• The principle of Creative Limitations calls for freedom within a circle of obstacles and restricted boundaries. Talent is like a muscle: without something to push against, it atrophies. So we deliberately put obstacles in our path - barriers that will inspire us. We disciple ourselves as to what to do, while we're boundless as to how to do it.

  Robert McKee

  Inspiration, Creativity, Circles

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• The Business story is designed to trigger the listener to take an effective action. If it doesn't, the story fails.

  Robert McKee

  Stories, Action, Failing

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