Oliver Stone
Conspiracy chronicler of JFK, Stone's polemics sparked quotable political debates.
Most quoted
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind."
— from Wall Street (film), 1987
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."
— from Platoon (film), 1986
"The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
— from Natural Born Killers (film), 1994
All quotes by Oliver Stone (100)
I believe in the power of cinema to change minds.
Nixon was a complex man, full of contradictions.
The Vietnam War was a defining moment for my generation.
Directing is like conducting an orchestra; you have to bring it all together.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely—especially in Washington.
I make films to provoke thought, not to entertain passively.
The media is the message, but it's also the manipulator.
Life is about taking risks; that's how you grow.
JFK's assassination was a coup d'état.
Filmmaking is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration.
America needs to look at its dark side.
I don't make documentaries; I make docudramas to reveal truth.
The pursuit of truth is a noble but dangerous path.
Wall Street is a jungle, and survival is key.
History repeats itself if we don't learn from it.
Acting is reacting; directing is anticipating.
The Cuban Missile Crisis brought us to the brink.
I was reborn in Vietnam.
Cinema should challenge the status quo.
Bush's wars were based on lies.
Contemporaries of Oliver Stone
Other Film & Theaters born within 50 years of Oliver Stone (1946).