I go to movies expecting to have a whole experience. If I want a movie that doesn't end, I'll go to a French movie. A movie has to be complete within itself; it can't just build off the first one or play variations. - Joss Whedon
You either have to write or you shouldn't be writing. That's all. - Joss Whedon
Shiny, let's be bad guys! - Joss Whedon
The one thing a creator can bring to the table when everybody else has all the money and power is centeredness and the ability to walk away. Never sit at a table you can't walk away from. - Joss Whedon
Somebody once asked me if I have anything like faith, and I said I have faith in the narrative. I have a belief in a narrative that is bigger than me, that is alive and I trust will work itself out. - Joss Whedon
You go to movies to see people you love suffer - that's why you go to the movies. You don't go to see a movie about a guy who already knows he has a wonderful life. - Joss Whedon
If you can't run, you crawl. If you can't crawl-- you find someone to carry you. - Joss Whedon
Very occasionally, if you pay really close attention, life doesn't suck. - Joss Whedon
Two things that matter to me. Emotional resonance and rocket launchers. - Joss Whedon
Misogyny… is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who is confronted with it. - Joss Whedon
He's like Super Librarian, y'know? Everyone forgets, Willow, that knowledge is the ultimate weapon. - Joss Whedon
Spike: Bloody hell, woman, you're cutting off my circulation!Buffy: You don't have any circulation.Spike: Well, it pinches - Joss Whedon
I'm the least confident person in so many ways. But I believed that if somebody gave me the chance to tell a story, I would tell a story [well enough] that the person who gave me the chance would get their money back. - Joss Whedon
If I wrote what I really think, I would be so sad all the time. We create to fill a gap - not just to avoid the idea of dying, it's to fill some particular gap in ourselves. - Joss Whedon
I walk. I talk. I shop. I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out, and I don't sleep on a bed of bones. - Joss Whedon
You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are. - Joss Whedon
If the apocalypse comes...beep me! - Joss Whedon
Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE. - Joss Whedon
If you're going to make a science fiction movie, then have a hover craft chase, for God's sake. - Joss Whedon
Everything I do in its essence is about helplessness. That's the story I want to tell all the time. It's the story I wanted to live - somebody who appears to be, or is, weak becoming stronger. - Joss Whedon
Don’t give people what they want, give them what they need. - Joss Whedon
In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer. - Joss Whedon
She's terse. I can be terse. Once, in flight school, I was laconic. - Joss Whedon
Everything we do really is just a little marker on the long road to death. And sometimes that’s overwhelmingly depressing to me, and sometimes it makes me feel kinship and forgiveness. We’ve all got the same ending to the story. The way we make that story more elaborate, I got to respect. - Joss Whedon
You're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater. - Joss Whedon
If every vampire who said he was at The Crucifixion, was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock . . . - Joss Whedon
Every day's a negotiation and sometimes it's done with guns. - Joss Whedon
So, why do you write these strong female characters?Because you’re still asking me that question."[Equality Now speech, May 15, 2006] - Joss Whedon
The thing about a hero, is even when it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, he's going to keep digging, he's going to keep trying to do right and make up for what's gone before, just because that's who he is. - Joss Whedon
There’s a fine line between support and stalking and let’s all stay on the right side of that. - Joss Whedon
Something can be very funny and then suddenly very terrifying-very exciting, and suddenly very ridiculous. I think that’s what life is like, that’s what interests me. - 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
Because it’s no longer enough to be a decent person. It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself. - Joss Whedon
Everyone has their first date and the object is to hide your flaws. And then you're in a relationship, and it's all about hiding your disappointment. And then, once you're married, it's about hiding your sins. - 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
I'm well aware when they fired the starting gun I was halfway down the track, but I still ran as fast as I could for 25 years. - Joss Whedon
That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain. Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it. (to Inara) Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint. - Joss Whedon
I've got a theory, it could be bunnies...I've got a theor-Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposesThey've got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses.And what's with all the carrots-?What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?Bunnies, bunnies it must be bunnies!...or maybe midgets... - Joss Whedon
Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own. - Joss Whedon
River Tam (Summer Glau): No power in the 'verse can stop me. - Joss Whedon
To forgive is an act of compassion... It's not done because people deserve it. It's done because they need it. - Joss Whedon
There's no fuzzy middle ground. You either believe that women are people or you don't. It's that simple. - Joss Whedon
I also don't trust Caribou anymore. They're out there, on the tundra, waiting... Something's going down. I'm right about this. - Joss Whedon
My soul is wrapped in harsh repose,Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes,But soft... behold!A sunlight beamButting a swath of glimmering gleam.My heart expands,'tis grown a bulge in it,Inspired by your beauty...Effulgent. - Joss Whedon
Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh and cruel. But that's why there's us. Champions. It doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world was what it should be, to show it what it can be. - Joss Whedon
Everything we do really is just a little marker on the long road to death. And sometimes that's overwhelmingly depressing to me, and sometimes it makes me feel kinship and forgiveness. We've all got the same ending to the story. The way we make that story more elaborate, I got to respect. - Joss Whedon
Because to me, there is no logic of any kind behind misogyny. Therefore, it’s funny, because it’s so completely random to me. It’s senseless. - Joss Whedon
There's a time and place for everything, and I believe it’s called 'fan fiction'. - Joss Whedon
As we all know, blinking lights means science. - Joss Whedon
Loneliness is about the scariest thing out there. - Joss Whedon
Why do you write strong female characters?Because you're still asking me that question. - Joss Whedon
Everything is a drug. Family, art, causes, new shoes... We're all just tweaking our chem to avoid the void. - Joss Whedon
It's very important that we start creating new content again. We can only build on nostalgia so much before we have nothing left to build on. - Joss Whedon
War is not just the business of death, it is the antitheses of life. - Joss Whedon
Sadly, I hate foreigners. And Americans. And animals. And flora, and some fauna. Also the magma that is the very core of this our mother earth. I'm full o' hate! - Joss Whedon
Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke. - Joss Whedon
I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. - Joss Whedon
Humor keeps us alive. Humor and food. Don't forget food. You can go a week without laughing. - 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. - Joss Whedon
You can't take the sky from me. - Joss Whedon
I could not conceive that [fans] actually wanted me to sign something. It took a long time for me to figure out (a) just say 'Thank you' and sign the thing, and (b) smile in the picture, because if you try to just half-smile you're going to look constipated. - Joss Whedon
Everything I do is going to contain the message that men who are going to be comfortable with powerful women are going to be more powerful men - Joss Whedon
When Roseanne read the first script of mine that got into her hands without being edited by someone else she said, 'How can you write a middle-aged woman this well?' I said, 'If you met my mom you wouldn't ask'. - Joss Whedon