Joss Whedon Quotes

27 Sourced Quotes

Addressing a question he often receives:
'Why do you write these strong female characters?' 'Because you're still asking me that question'.

Joss Whedon
I have had a dream my whole life... and it was not this good.

Joss Whedon
If I ever did a rom-com, it'd be about an orgy. I cannot do anything except ensemble-pieces. It's awful!

Joss Whedon
I know there's been some debate about the DVD art. Just remember it's what's INside that counts, as I used to remind girls in high school constantly. CONSTANTLY — until I realized that I was empty inside. Empty and homely. Man, that's a rough combo.

Joss Whedon
The English Language is my bitch. Or I don't speak it very well. Whatever.

Joss Whedon
There is nothing more painful in the world than Aly when she makes her big eyes. She makes her big hurt eyes, there's nothing you can do. She just kills you.

Joss Whedon
People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy.

Joss Whedon
Very occasionally, if you really pay attention, life doesn't suck.

Joss Whedon
People with real power never fear of losing it. People with control think of little else.

Joss Whedon
The network called up and said 'We piggybacked you on the deal for another show,' I'm like 'Okay, so what you're saying to my writers is that they weren't picked up when they thought they were and now that they are it was because of something that has nothing to do with them. Okay. Great. Stop calling'.

Joss Whedon
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn.
After Whedon's discovery that The WB had cancelled Angel

Joss Whedon
I think that people need two kinds of fulfillment — one in which you give and one in which you hold back. Part of fulfillment is need, is longing, is being unfulfilled, that's the nature of tragedy and a lot of drama. Very often, what the fans want, they get. But very often, what they want, they can't quite have, because we want them to feel the way our characters felt...

Joss Whedon
I'm working on Buffy: Deep Space Nine. It will be dark and badly received.

Joss Whedon
The idea of changing culture is important to me, and it can only be done in a popular medium.

Joss Whedon
All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet — it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.

Joss Whedon
The first thing I ever thought of when I thought of Buffy, the movie, was the little... blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed, in every horror movie. The idea of Buffy was to subvert that idea, that image, and create someone who was a hero where she had always been a victim. That element of surprise … genre-busting is very much at the heart of both the movie and the series.

Joss Whedon
If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.

Joss Whedon
My visions of the future are always pretty much standard issue. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer... and there are flying cars.

Joss Whedon
I believe we are the only sentient beings in the universe, and I believe that 500 years from now, we will still be the only sentient beings around.

Joss Whedon
My people - before I was changed - they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It's a Claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship; the crown represents loyalty... and the heart... Well, you know... Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this.

Joss Whedon
I don't actually have anything against anybody, unless their belief precludes everybody else's. … I am an atheist and an absurdist and I have been for many years. I've actually taken a huge amount of flack for that.

Joss Whedon
Joss: Um, no. Dead Buffy's a Buffy. But a dead one.

Joss Whedon
Veronica solves little puzzles because she, like all of us, cannot unravel the bigger ones.

Joss Whedon
In my generation, there was a single girl given the strength and skill to fight the spread of darkness...but in your generation, there are nearly two thousand with the powers of the slayer, and not all of them have chosen to use their newfound abilities conscientiously.

Joss Whedon
The actors can make up their dialogue. I'm bushed, and they're all funny, and the hell with it. Maybe I'll give them a premise to work off of, like "You're all in trouble" or "Wash has a thing". They could maybe light it too.

Joss Whedon
I believe the only reality is how we treat each other. The morality comes from the absence of any grander scheme, not from the presence of any grander scheme.

Joss Whedon
It's about women. It's about power and it's about women and you just hate those two words in the same sentence, don't you?

Joss Whedon