Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone

Filmmaker, Screenwriter

Oliver Stone is an acclaimed filmmaker known for his provocative films that explore political themes and historical events, notably 'Platoon' and 'JFK'.

Thinking People War Men Film Trying
Born
September 15, 1946
Quotes
197
Rank
#2259

Quote collection

Oliver Stone quotes (page 7 of 10)

197 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.

Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I want my children to have access to something that looks beyond what I call the tyranny of now. You read the paper, everyone talks about that thing [in the news] that day, and all the subconscious really important stuff that's going on is being neglected. The beauty of history is that historians have the ability to find patterns, the big picture. When you make a movie, you try to find that. I'm doing in the cinema what historians try to do in their own media."

Children Important Trying
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I didn't like my classmates at Yale. George W.Bush was in my class. I didn't know it then."

Classmates
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"Well, George W.Bush wanted to privatize Social Security. It's an ideological thing."

Ideological Security
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I think John F. Kennedy was the last great hope. And that's why I dwell on that subject. He was someone who could stand up to the militarist element in our society."

Thinking
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"The U.S. ultimately decides what the national security threat is. They put Russia one, Iran two, China three - the terrorists are down the list. But it's amazing to me that we can still consider Russia a threat. On the contrary, they've been very helpful in the Middle East, trying to calm the situation and respect the rights of sovereign countries to exist. It's the U.S. that hasn't - whether in Serbia, the old Yugoslavia, in Africa, and now, Iraq."

Country Trying Calm
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"Сyber-warfare is obviously the future. It's a real concern, but we lie so much about what we do that it's hard to know what's going on unless you really follow it."

Real Lying Concern
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I gave up on America. I read the Times just to find out what they're thinking. I read blogs. I get most of my best information from people who are there, people who write independently. And there's actually very few of them."

Writing Thinking People
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I don't agree with Bernie Sanders that the banks should be broken up at this point. But Hillary Clinton's acceptance of huge contributions from Goldman Sachs and others... And we don't debate what Clinton has done. She has a public record. She's been Secretary of State. She's basically a candidate of Wall Street, for Wall Street."

Wall Acceptance Broken
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"Wall Street is a huge issue. And it's controlling our lives today with this so-called election - we really have no choice. We're really just onlookers. The national surveillance state has not been debated by any candidates, Democratic or Republican. Our wars, our repeated wars - our new war in Syria has not been brought up because everyone agrees essentially that we have to continue doing what we're doing. And maybe even now go back to Libya."

Wall War Choices
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"You look at the Russian side: They're defending their territory from the beginning. They move west to destroy the Nazis. And they take out the guts of the German war machine per Winston Churchill, who said that they won the war. From the beginning, we were hostile to the guys who had saved how many American lives by their repulsion of the Nazis? I think the Americans lost 400,000 in the whole war. And the Americans knew it at the time. They gave Joseph Stalin credit. He was the man of the year, cover of Life magazine in 1943; he was a hero."

War Moving Hero
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"From '45, the moment Franklin Roosevelt dies, we're running ratlines with the Germans, helping Nazis escape."

Running Helping Moments
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"Franklin Roosevelt saw the world as a possible alliance, with the UN involved, of course, where we would never have these kinds of wars again. And he was equally opposed to the British Empire as he was against the Communist Russians."

War World Kind
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"Franklin Roosevelt is one of the great leaders because he does get along with other people. He makes this huge effort. He's a very charming man. He tries to bring Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill into this tripartite agreement to run the world. And he really was close. If he hadn't died in April of '45, the whole history would be different."

Running Men People
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"It's very important to understand that World War II is at the base of this new policy. From the 1890s on, the U.S. was always imperialistic. We went after the Philippines, and we did the same in Cuba, in Hawaii. We controlled South America. Woodrow Wilson was not what he was supposed to be. He was very much a white man first. "The world must be made safe for democracy." It really accelerates after World War II."

War Men Democracy
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I'd rather get past the tyranny of now, where you get judged for something based on what's happening at the moment."

Past Moments Tyranny
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I can see a movie and believe the story and characterization and stay proud of it. It doesn't change. Even if it's unappreciated, that doesn't mean it can't be appreciated in the future."

Believe Mean Stories
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"As a dramatist, I don't have politics."

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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"You get much more heat when you do something current."

Heat Currents
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Oliver Stone Filmmaker, Screenwriter
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"I think a lot of people misunderstand what I'm doing, because my films are not easy sometimes. They do deserve a second viewing. I think they get misunderstood easily."

Thinking People Misunderstood
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