Best quotes by Stan Lee

MoviesComic BooksSalesComic books sort of follow with the move - if people see the movie and if they're interested in the character and want to see more of the character, they start buying the comic books. So a good movie helps the sale of the comic books and the comic books help the movie and one hand washes the other. So, I don't think there's any reason to think that comics will die out.

FascinationSuperheroesThese stories of people with unusual powers and unusual appearances, who do unusual things, people are always fascinated by them.

CreativityStorytellingIt's a tremendous challenge, because there have been so many characters created over the years. Every time you think you come up with a great name, you find out somebody has already done it. Dreaming up the stories isn't that hard, but coming up with a good title is the toughest part.

IntelligenceChildhoodReadingWhen I was a kid, I loved reading Sherlock Holmes. Now, you don't think of him as a superhero, but he was so damn much smarter than anybody else.

CreativityAudience EngagementCharacter DevelopmentStorytellingI thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him.

StorytellingCollaborationCreative ProcessSome artists, such as Jack Kirby, need no plot at all. I mean I'll just say to Jack, "Let's let the next villain be Dr. Doom" ... or I may not even say that. He may tell me. And then he goes home and does it. He's so good at plots, I'm sure he's a thousand times better than I. He just makes up the plots for these stories. All I do is a little editing ... I may tell him that he's gone too far in one direction or another. Of course, occasionally I'll give him a plot, but we're practically both the writers on the things.

EntertainmentPopularityImaginationComic BooksFantasyI think people are interested in anything that's a little bigger than life and that's colorful and - you know, what they like? They like fairy tales for grownups.

ChildhoodEnjoymentReadingGrowing UpI think almost everybody enjoyed fairy tales when they were young, tales of witches and ogres and monsters and dragons and so forth. You get a little bit older, you can't read fairy tales any more.

CensorshipViolenceComic BooksOnce, I'd written a Western story, and one of the panels was just a hand holding a six-shooter, and there was a puff of smoke coming out of the barrel, and a straight horizontal line, indicating the trajectory of the bullet. So that page was sent back to me from the Code office, saying that the particular panel was too violent. I asked them what they meant, and they told me--I swear--"The puff of smoke is too big." Well, of course. So I had the artist make the smoke a little smaller, and the youth of America was saved.

WorldCommunicationComicsThe world has always been like a comic book world to me! What's happened is that communications got better and better, so now with cell-phones we can be in touch with people half a globe away.

Character DevelopmentWritingRegretsI never tried to write for other people. I liked people who had problems I might have, because we all have insecurities, regrets. I like heroes who were not 100-percent perfect, who things to take care of.

FunEnjoymentStan LeeSocial MediaTwitterTo me everything is fun. I've started Twittering or tweeting recently and that's been fun.

CreativityMovie MakingWhen you can sit down with a plain sheet of paper in front of you and make some notes, and, little by little, you see it take shape and become a concept for a movie or a TV show. That's a real thrill. You watch it go from notes on a paper to a meeting with writers and directors and actors. I can't think of anything that's more exciting.

ProductivityCreative ProcessI'm sort of a pressure writer. If somebody says, "Stan, write something," and I have to have it by tomorrow morning, I'll just sit down and I'll write it. It always seems to come to me. But I'm better doing a rushed job because if it isn't something that's due quickly, I won't work on it until it becomes almost an emergency and then I'll do it.

CreativityI enjoyed reading Batman, and Superman, and all the super ones, but I never wished I created them. I've got to let there be some work for other people!

Super PowersIf I got a superpower I wouldn't say, oh, I got to get a costume and put on a mask. I would say hey, I can do something better than other people. How can I turn it into a buck?

RiskSuperheroesI think if I were a superhero saving the world, I'd expect at least not to have to pay income taxes. I mean there should be something in it for a hero who risks his life to save mankind every day.

Stan LeeSuperheroesComming from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man

CreationArtistic ProcessComicsMarvelIn the beginning Marvel created the Bullpen and the Style. And the Bullpen was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the Artists. And the Spirit of Marvel said, Let there be The Fantasic Four. And there was The Fantasic Four. And Marvel saw The Fantasic Four. And it was good.

Personal StyleSuperheroesThe purpose of this is not show that I can do it better, because I think Superman is perfect. The original creation of Superman nobody could have done that better and I think Batman is pretty much a perfect character... The same with all of them. I'm just going to try to find a way to say, "If that wasn't the original idea, what would be another way to do it that would be more in my style?".

StorytellingResponsibilityEverything has changed and we're all living in one city now. What happens somewhere affects things everywhere, so I have to be careful and whatever stories I work on, I want them to have redeeming moral values.

FunEnjoymentStorytellingI hate being too serious about anything. If I'm with my friend, I want to be having fun with him or her. And if anybody is reading my story, I want them to be not only reading the story, but I want them to feel they're having fun; that they're enjoying it. So any way you can make it more informal, more fun-filled, more amusing - instead of just a dry story that goes on and on - if there's any way to do that, I like to try and do it.

UnpredictabilityThe public always loves anything that's different, as long as it's well-made, if it's well-done. You never know what to expect when you go to one of these so-called superhero movies.

ImprovementWritingStorytellingReadingThe more you read, the better you're going to become as a storyteller.

PowerStan LeeWhosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.

TechnologyComic BooksEntertainment IndustryI enjoy the fact that we have these mobile comics now, which are sort of a cross between a comic book and an animated cartoon.

CreativityWritingStorytellingAuthorshipNo matter what you write, it's a matter of putting words in a certain order so that the reader will be interested in what you're writing.

CollectingNostalgiaComic BooksMaybe there will always be a market for the regular comic books because you can read [them] at your own pace. You can save them, collect them, [then] go back and read them again.

EnjoymentNostalgiaSharingComicsI think comics will always be around. I think there's something nice about a comic book. People love to hold 'em, turn the pages, fold 'em up, roll 'em up, stick 'em in their back pocket, show 'em to a friend, and say, "Hey, look at this."

CreativityRelationshipsSelf-MotivationI never understood why people take drugs. They're habit forming and they can kill you. I didn't need anything to pep me up or make me feel more creative, and I didn't need them to help me with women.

Бізнес цитатиWritingStoriesEverybody wants to feel that you're writing to a certain demographic because that's good business, but I've never done that ... I tried to write stories that would interest me. I'd say, what would I like to read?... I don't think you can do your best work if you're writing for somebody else, because you never know what that somebody else really thinks or wants.

PassionCreativityEnthusiasmWritingCollaborationIt's hard not to be enthusiastic when you like what you're doing and I love what I do. I love writing stories, I love coming up with ideas for new projects and I love the people I work with, because I work with great writers and artists and directors and actors.

CollaborationCreative Process... And we talk it out. Lately, I've had Roy Thomas come in, and he sits and makes notes while we discuss it. Then he types them up, which gives us a written synopsis. Originally - I have a little tape recorder - I had tried taping it, but then I found no one on staff has time to listen to the tape again later. But this way he makes notes, types it quickly, I get a carbon, the artist gets a carbon ... so we don't have to worry that we'll forget what we've said.

Work-Life BalanceExcitementEverybody is excited about their projects and I'm excited too. It's not like working. It's like playing with your friends. When I was a kid, I'd say to my mother, "Can I go out and play with the kids now?" Now I'm out playing with the kids all day long.

TimeStan LeeUsually, the biggest hang-up is the script. You could have a script done in six months that you love, or it could be like The Fantastic Four it's been almost 10 years.

FreedomTime ManagementPersonal InterestsI'm the Chairman Emeritus, and according to my contract I am supposed to devote 10% of my time to working for Marvel... and the rest of my time, I can do anything that I wish.

WritingComic BooksMarvelJack [Kirby] and Joe [Simon] wrote and drew the stories themselves in the beginning and I was just, like, the office boy. But after a while they had more writing than they could handle and I was the only guy around, so they said, "Hey Stan, you think you can write this?" When you're seventeen years old, what do you know? I said, "Sure, I can do it!" And that was it.

SharingComic BooksI do know that people enjoy reading a comic book and saving it and collecting the comics. And sharing them and trading them with friends. That may be something you can't do as easily with digital comics.

MoviesIdeasI'm lucky. I don't have to produce the whole movie. What I've been doing is just coming up with ideas for movies. I write a concept, a treatment, an outline, and if I sell that to a studio, then someone else does the actual production and I go on to another project, although I keep the title executive producer.

I remember when I was a kid, I loved Sherlock Holmes. I thought Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the greatest writers, because I felt I knew Sherlock Holmes. He existed to me. When I went to England the first thing I did was go to Baker Street to look for his house. I think you've got to try to make all of your characters as empathetic and realistic as possible.

TelevisionMoviesStorytellingComic BooksComic books are just a way to show a story. Then there are the movies, and television and exhibits like this that take the stories and make them seem so realistic. In the comic book, you're just reading a story - hopefully a good, exciting story that whets your appetite for all of this stuff to come.

Comic BooksSuperheroesReadersI thought it would be great to do superheroes that have the same kind of life problems that any reader - that anybody could have.

SuccessPrideLongevityI'm very proud of being a hack. It's why I've lived as long as I have, I think.

CareerMoviesWritingStorytellingComic BooksTo be honest, when I was writing these stories a million years ago, I never thought about movies at all one way or another. It would have seemed almost miraculous for these things to be movies someday. To me, they were just comic books that I hoped would sell so I could keep my job.

HappinessWorkEnjoymentLongevityRetirementI don't really see a need to retire as long as I am having fun.

WritingStorytellingIdeally, anything one writes should have a social conscience: if you can write a story that thrills, and with a good message, that's the perfect type of a story.

HumorWritingSuperheroesReputationI have a reputation for doing superheroes, but I like all kinds of writing. In fact, hardly anybody knows this, but I've probably written as many humor stories as superhero stories.

Stan LeeFans are almost always nice. I really find that they rarely come on too strong.

It's amazing what these superhero movies have become.

UncertaintyFutureI don't know where the hell I'll be in 5 years. Maybe I'll be producing movies maybe I'll be on a corner selling apples. I don't know, but I'm having a hell of a lot of fun.

FearStruggleIdentityPersonal ExperienceRepetitionI'm afraid I go through the same thing all the time.

MotivationCreativityInspirationSelf-PerceptionPersonal ExperiencesI'm not a guy who gets inspirations.

CreativityResilienceComic BooksEntertainment IndustryYou can't kill a good comic book series.

MortalityOf what import are brief, nameless lives . . . to Galactus?

PassionGratitudeMarvelI love Marvel and the people there. Im glad I m still part of it.

TheaterReadingShakespeareYou can read a Shakespeare play, but does that mean you wouldn't want to see it on the stage?

DedicationWork-Life BalanceProductivityTime ManagementWorkThere's never a time when I'm not working. I don't take vacations.

MoviesIdeasArtistsI'm just working with ideas in my head and with drawings that the artists did. And suddenly to see these things come to life in movies - it's just wonderful.

You remember when Tobey Maguire was first selected, most of the fans were angry. They felt, what kind of a guy is that for a superhero? Nobody thought it was a good idea. Yet he turned out to be great. The people at Marvel who do these things are really pretty smart. If they chose this guy, he'll probably be terrific.

MoviesCommunicationMy problem is I don't see and hear that well, so when I go to the movies, I can make out what's going on, but I can't hear what they're saying. And after the movie, I have to ask whoever I'm with "now, what was that all about?"

MoviesExcitementSuperheroesI think there's the element of the excitement of what I'm going to see, and with the special effects where you see men flying and walking through walls and shooting flame or whatever they do, especially the younger audiences, which make up a bulk of the moviegoers, they love that sort of thing.

AppreciationReadingNostalgiaComic BooksThere's just something that feels nice about holding a comic book!

FamiliarityExpectationsEvolutionStan LeeI was in the beginning when [comic book superheroes] started, but not anymore. Now I expect it. I've gotten very used to it.

StorytellingComic BooksNo matter how good a story is, if you're at a newsstand and you see a lot of comic books, you don't know how good the story is unless you read it. But you can spot the artwork instantly, and you know whether you like the artwork, whether it grabs you or not.

MoneyI couldn't afford [buying Marvel]. I hope I have enough money for dinner tonight!

SuccessAmbitionOwnershipMarvelBusinessWe have enough to do just trying to make our company what we want it to be. As far as whether I would like to own Marvel, sure, I'd like to own Marvel.

Creative ProcessI've written so many things over the years that I don't want to go back to being just a scriptwriter. I'm in what I consider to be the enviable position of all I have to do is come up with the idea and write an outline that makes it seem like it's a viable idea that will interest people, and then other people write the scripts -- and I become the executive producer or the producer, depending on how much involvement I have, and I get a creative credit and then move on to the next project.

TelevisionCreativityHobbiesRetirementMost people say, "I can't wait to retire so I can play golf," or go yachting or whatever they do. Well, if I was playing golf, I would want that to finish so I could go and dream up a new TV show.

CreativityImaginationThe way I'm doing it is I'm trying to think to myself, "Okay, I have the name Superman, and he's going to be a guy that deserves the name 'Superman.' I'm trying to forget about Krypton, about The Daily Planet what would I do if I was thinking it up?" I can do it any way at all..I can make him an Eskimo midget who's toothless and blind... I can do anything. It's difficult .

EntertainmentTechnologyOwnershipAspirationsBusinessI'd like to own Intel... I'd like to own Microsoft... I'd love to have Warner Bros in my hip pocket.

OpportunitiesWritingSuperheroesI couldn't say no when I received that offer [to re-invent the DC characters]... How can any writer say no to the opportunity of redoing every one of DC's top superheroes?

InnovationCreativityCharacter DevelopmentChallengeMarvelI think it's just the challenge. It's not that all my life I've wanted to do characters [in Marvel] , because I never particularly thought about it, but the challenge of saying, "How could they be done differently that may be more absorbing or more effective?"

MoviesThe only time I go on the set is when I have a cameo to do in the picture. I go to the set and I do my little cameo and I meet all the people. It's a great way to spend the day. And then I go back to my own world.

CreativityEnjoymentCollaborationEntertainment IndustryI work with people and we come up with ideas for movies, television and things like that. It's fun and I love doing it.

ComparisonComic BooksI'm used to doing comic books, where every month there's a new comic book! I find that the movie business is not quite the same. It doesn't move quite as fast.