J. J. Abrams Quotes

We used to have more references to things that we pulled out because they almost felt like they were trying too hard to allude to something.

Mystery is more important than knowledge.

People never know what they want, though everyone says they do. If they did, nobody would ever be surprised.

I try to push ideas away, and the ones that will not leave me alone are the ones that ultimately end up happening.

It's more important you learn what to make movies about than how to make movies

Don't sell your story, just tell your story.

You can never guess or assume what anyone is going to think.

When you work on something that combines both the spectacular and the relatable, the hyperreal and the real, it suddenly can become supernatural. The hypothetical and the theoretical can become literal.

It's not a bad way to live once you let go of the idea that you deserve more.

I find that it's hard to fully examine one's life and not have faith be part of the discussion.

I feel like in telling stories, there are the things the audience thinks are important, and then there are the things that are actually important.

I remember being taught to read at a very early age. Like creepy young. I remember being in the crib, reading. My parents were very impressed. My reading speed, comprehension and overall ability has remained at that level ever since.

I feel like the beauty of this age of filmmaking is that there are more tools at your disposal, but it doesn’t mean that any of these new tools are automatically the right tools. And there are a lot of situations where we went very much old school and in fact used CG more to remove things than to add things.

I've always liked working on stories that combine people who are relatable with something insane.

The Internet now provides an immediate and very clear consensus of what it is that the audience is experiencing. It's something that you should never let lead you, and yet at the same time, you should never ignore it.

Pitching is always a weird, difficult thing.

What's a bigger mystery box than a movie theater? You go to the theater, you're just so excited to see anything - the moment the lights go down is often the best part.

It's cool to be a nerd. There's a general understanding that smartphones didn't come from jocks. The digital age was foreseen by a group of short-sleeved, buttoned-down, white-shirted guys and their female equivalents designing the very stuff that's now ubiquitous.

When I was a kid, it was a huge insult to be a geek. Now it's a point of pride in a weird way.

I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid.

I'm not trying to be coy or manipulative or Machiavellian, I want to spark people's imaginations.

Honestly I'm excited about the possibilities of what comes next, and the funny thing is, that is sort of what "Star Wars" is kind of about. I mean, I remember being 10 years old and seeing that movie and leaving the theater and feeling like, oh, my God, anything is possible. And I feel like anything is possible right now. I don't know what's next, but I look forward to it.

Maybe there are times when mystery is more important than knowledge. I realized that the white page is a magic box. Ultimately, the mistery box is all of us. Ubiquitous technologies. What comes next ? Mystery as catalyst for imagination.

Directing's the best part. Whenever I've directed something, there's this feeling of demand and focus that I like. And secondly, it means that you've gotten through all the writing stuff, and the producing stuff, and casting, and prep, and all those stages that are seemingly endless. So directing is sort of the reward for all the work you put in before. And then there's the editing, which is another amazing stage of the process. It's incredible the moments you can create.

The magic that works, to me, is the magic that feels completely grounded and real and tangible.