John Waters Quotes

29 Sourced Quotes

I would never want to live anywhere but Baltimore... It's as if every eccentric in the South decided to move north, ran out of gas in Baltimore, and decided to stay. No one moves here.

John Waters
A psychiatrist once told me early in treatment, "Stop trying to make me like you," and what a sobering and welcome smack in the face that statement was. Yet somehow, every day of my life is still a campaign for popularity, or better yet, a crowded funeral.

John Waters
If you're not sure you could love your children, please don't have them, because they might grow up and kill us.

John Waters
Watching a movie should be like hunting. Out of context, every image of the cinema is yours for a split second. Take them before they bury it.

John Waters
The way I photograph... in many ways it's directed by chance and all my mistakes, which are often the best stuff. I found that no matter if it's the same tape, the same TV, and the same camera, I can never duplicate an image... your arm jiggles, there's just too much chance. And I never put it on pause, or use any of that fancy equipment.

John Waters
Get on the fashion nerves of your peers, not your parents - that is the key to fashion leadership.

John Waters
Don't let me ever hear you say, 'I can't read fiction. I only have time for the truth.' Fiction is the truth, fool! Ever hear of 'literature'? That means fiction, too, stupid.

John Waters
I'll never be able to do a sequel to Pink Flamingos because it would have to end with Divine taking a shit and the dog eating it.

John Waters
I'd never trust anyone who hadn't spent at least one night of his youth in the local jail. The more hell you raise as a teen-ager, the sweeter your memories will be.

John Waters
Animal rights acitivists always say to me, "How could you kill a chicken for a movie?" Well, I eat chicken and I know the chicken didn't land on my plate from a heart attack. We bought the chicken from a farmer who advertised freshly killed chicken. I think we made the chicken's life better. It got to be in a movie, it got fucked, and then right after filming the next take, the cast ate the chicken!

John Waters
I'd rather have a daughter in a whorehouse than a son in the police force,' Esther used to rage to anyone who would listen.

John Waters
I love to read about anger. A "feel bad" book always makes me feel good. And no other novel in the history of literature is more depressing than Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children.

John Waters
Do we secretly idolize our imagined opposites, yearning to become the role models for others we know we could never be for ourselves?

John Waters
I stopped taking drugs when I realized that pot smelled bad and LSD trips were becoming like TV reruns. I had had enough inner journeys — I felt I knew myself well enough, thank you.

John Waters
True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks.

John Waters
My idea of an interesting person is someone who is quite proud of their seemingly abnormal life and turns their disadvantage into a career.

John Waters
Wouldn't you rather your kid be a drug dealer than a drug addict?

John Waters
Parents should worry if their children haven't been arrested by the time they turn sixteen. Being a juvenile delinquent is a birthright and as much a part of healthy adolescence as smoking cigarettes or getting pimples.

John Waters
Going to a sensational murder trial is the only way I can relax.

John Waters
Being rich is not about how much money you have or how many homes you own; it's the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price and wondering if you can afford it.

John Waters
I've had it with being nice, understanding, fair and hopeful. I feel like being negative all day. The chip on my shoulder could sink the QE2. I've got an attitude problem and nobody better get in my way...I'm in a bad mood and the whole stupid little world is gonna pay!

John Waters
I'm always amazed at friends who say they try to read at night in bed but always end up falling asleep. I have the opposite problem. If a book is good I can't go to sleep, and stay up way past my bedtime, hooked on the writing. Is anything better than waking up after a late-night read and diving right back into the plot before you even get out of bed to brush your teeth?

John Waters
To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits while watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation. But one must remember that there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste.

John Waters
Cheer up. You never know — maybe something awful will happen tomorrow.

John Waters
To understand bad taste one must have very good taste.

John Waters
I pride myself on the fact that my work has no socially redeeming value.

John Waters
Not wanting anyone to pop my bubble by speaking to me, I immediately began reading Lesbian Nuns, and that did the trick. No one attempted small talk.

John Waters
"How could you think of such awful things?" liberal critics always ask. "How else could I possibly amuse myself?" I always wonder.

John Waters
I mean, what is prison, really, except a good bar without the liquor?

John Waters