John Waters Quotes

It wasn't until I started reading and found books they wouldn't let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else.

My idea of rich is that you can buy every book you ever want without looking at the price and you're never around assholes. That's the two things to really fight for in life.

To understand bad taste one must have very good taste.

True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks.

My idea of an interesting person is someone who is quite proud of their seemingly abnormal life and turns their disadvantage into a career.

Without obsession, life is nothing.

Don’t sleep with people who don’t read.

You should never read just for "enjoyment." Read to make yourself smarter! Less judgmental. More apt to understand your friends' insane behavior, or better yet, your own. Pick "hard books." Ones you have to concentrate on while reading. And for god's sake, don't let me ever hear you say, "I can't read fiction. I only have time for the truth." Fiction is the truth, fool! Ever hear of "literature"? That means fiction, too, stupid.

If you ever go home with somebody and they don't have books in their house, don't sleep with them. I think that's very important.

If you can make someone laugh who's dead set against you, that's the first step to winning them over to your side.

I like art that challenges you and makes a lot of people angry because they don't get it. Because they refuse to look at it properly. Rather than open their mind to the possibility of seeing something, they just resist. A lot of people think contemporary art makes them feel stupid. Because they are stupid. They're right. If you have contempt about contemporary art, you are stupid. You can be the most uneducated person in the world and completely appreciate contemporary art, because you see the rebellion. You see that it's trying to change things.

As far as socially redeeming value, I hope I don't have any.

When they throw the water on the witch, she says, “Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness”. That line inspired my life. I sometimes say it to myself before I go to sleep, like a prayer.

I don't trust anyone that hasn't been to jail at least once in their life.

I could never kill myself. I approve of suicide if you have horrible health. Otherwise it's the ultimate hissy fit.

I always wanted to be a juvenile delinquent but my parents wouldn't let me.

So many great people are dead, and so many assholes I know are still alive. Karma's bullshit. I wish it was true, but it ain't.

I respect everything I make fun of.

The Easter Bunny is a major reason for heroin addiction in America.

Life is a rotten lottery.

To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits while watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation. But one must remember that there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste.

Being rich is not about how much money you have or how many homes you own; it's the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price and wondering if you can afford it.

I pride myself on the fact that my work has no socially redeeming value.

Do we secretly idolize our imagined opposites, yearning to become the role models for others we know we could never be for ourselves?

I always say you need something weird on your face and some good shoes and nobody looks in the middle.