Quotes from Ridley Scott

I think there's nothing worse than inertia. You can be inert and study your navel, and gradually fall off the chair. I think the key is to keep flying.

I unfortunately do suffer for my art.

Unfortunately, we don't seem to learn from history, do we? And you'd think we would.

I've gradually realised that what I do best is universes. And I shouldn't be afraid of that.

In science fiction, we're always searching for new frontiers. We're drawn to the unknown.

Stanley Kubrick's '2001' was the door that opened up the possibility of science fiction for me. Everything else up to then was fine, but didn't quite work for me.

Because I was a kid from north of England, the only films I had access to was not alternative cinema, which in those days would be foreign cinema; I would be looking at all the Hollywood movies that arrived at my High Street.

The idea of flying in general does not appeal to me. I can barely understand why people want to fly at all, other than that it's occasionally necessary.

I used to agonise over what to do next, but now I'm making a movie a year. It's insane, but it's only a movie after all. You just hang in there, and occasionally you might make something which you can call art... briefly.

If 'formulaic' is somebody who is unlikely to succeed starting down a process and succeeding - then isn't that what most films are about? And art films are about people who aren't likely to succeed and then don't succeed.

I think over time I've learned to stop being a screamer and get interactive; otherwise, you get killed in Hollywood. I stopped being a screamer shortly after 'Blade Runner,' kicking doors and things like that, because I wasn't actually getting anywhere.

The story of 'Prometheus' is the idea that if you're given a gift from the gods, do not abuse it, and do not think you can compete.

The great film editor is not a cutter, he's a storyteller, right?

Oddly enough, I find it quite engaging to be working with a female when I'm directing. It's kind of interesting.

Good FBI officers are not noticeable. You would never look at them.

You always worry before your movie opens that no one is going to come out.

On rare occasions, Dad used to reminisce about when he met Eisenhower and how Churchill would pop in, in the late hours of the evening or night, carrying a cigar, when he'd obviously had a good dinner.

I'm agnostic because I went through the usual process of parents insisting you go to church, and yet they didn't. So there's me, sitting in the chairs, thinking, 'Jeez, why am I here? I'd rather be playing tennis, seriously.'

I don't get attached to anything. I'm like a good antique dealer. I'm prepared to sell my most valuable table.

'Blade Runner' was a comic strip. It was a comic strip! It was a very dark comic strip. Comic metaphorically.

Taking a comic strip character is very hard to write. Because comics are meant to work in one page, to work in frames with minimalistic dialogue. And a lot of it is left to the imagination of the reader. To do that in film, you've got to be a little more explanatory. And that requires a good screenplay and good dialogue.

I'm used to very strong women because my mother was particularly strong, and my father was away all the time. My mother was a big part of bringing up three boys, so I was fully versed in the strength of a powerful woman, and accepted that as the status quo.

I was always aware that this whole Earth is on overload.

If you ever have a kid who doesn't know what to do, stick him in art school. It's amazing what evolves.