Josh Radnor Quotes

When I go to movies and I love the movie, it’s because it feels like it articulated something about how we’re living now, and also gives me some insight into my own life. I feel actually altered after having seen it.

In college, you’re kind of designing who you want to be. And I wanted to be a big reader.

To write a story about New York that only deals with people in your age and socioeconomic bracket, that feels dishonest to me. So much of New York comes from everyone bumping into each other.

I don’t think evil people or negative people are inherently interesting all the time. People who are good people getting better at being themselves – to me, that’s something that’s really interesting to watch.

We don’t have a lot of space in our imaginations to allow people to expand what they do.

I know not everyone starts out reading high literature. If you read enough you might be drawn to some other things, so maybe those vampire books are what they call ‘gateway books.’ I just coined that term. I don’t know if there’s a thing called ‘gateway books.’

As a person, I’m anti-violence.

I think the word ‘earnest’ kind of has a negative connotation on some level. I think one of the things that’s happened is that being cynical is somehow conflated with being sophisticated. I think that’s problematic, to say the least.

What I write is very personal, but not autobiographical. It’s more ‘thematically personal’ – what’s up in my life in terms of themes at the moment.

Even though I occasionally appear on it, I don’t watch television.

Film allows me to ask some really big questions with the time to explore them deeply. I love the form.

We are so vocal about what we hate.

I’m not a masochistic reader. If something is just too dense or not enjoyable, even though I’m told it should be good for me, I’ll put it down. That said, most of what I read would be considered high-end or good for you, I suppose. But, I also think that reading should be enjoyable.

I like movies that are about real people in real time with real problems.

There are just things you can explore in a movie that you can’t in 22 minutes with a laugh track.

I find myself going out less and less. When you’re 22 and see older people start to do that, it’s depressing, but once you hit 30, you think, ‘Wow, I’ve been working all week – it might be really nice to stay in!’

My whole thing is that I want to explore why you read books, what’s the purpose of reading, and maybe that it’s not that cool to hate something just because it’s popular.

Well, I stopped drinking. That was actually a big deal. I didn’t go through any harrowing rock-bottom experience. I just made a decision to stop drinking.

I learned a lesson which I didn’t heed: Don’t put yourself in your movies. It’s too much.

Here’s the problem: I don’t like who I’ve become when my iPhone is within reach. I find myself checking e-mails and responding to texts throughout the day with some kind of Pavlovian ferocity – it’s not a conscious act, but a reflexive one.

It really shocks me when I encounter people who think kindness doesn’t matter. Because I think it’s pretty much the only thing that matters.

I tend to read things that are a little more on the nourishing side. But if I don’t enjoy something, I’ll put it down.

I haven’t left the house without a packet of Kleenex in my back pocket for as long as I can remember. Whenever I start thinking I’m incredibly cool, the packet of Kleenex in my back pocket brings me right back down to earth.

It’s really hard to be poor in New York – I was really poor when I lived in New York.

I kicked college nostalgia in my late 20s. As much as I loved college and treasure the memories, I no longer want to go back.

Time off from the news is always something I welcome.

Sometimes I watch the broad comedies coming out of Hollywood and I think, ‘You know, sex is a big part of people’s lives, but is that really the only thing men are ever concerned about?’ People are more complicated than they appear in film or television.

I don’t think evil people or negative people are inherently interesting all the time. People who are good people getting better at being themselves – to me, that’s something that’s really interesting to watch.

Everyone has expectations. You just don’t want to have them dashed, so you’re quiet about them.

It never made sense to me that someone would achieve any kind of success in show business, only to become a jerk.

I’m a little less hungry as an actor than I used to be. When you’re a director, you’re the conductor of the orchestra, and when you’re an actor, you’re playing the violin. There’s a thrill to each of them, but as the conductor, you get the fuller sound.

I’m not sitting around saying, ‘Man, I’d really love to direct a western.’ That’s just not something I’m probably going to do, mostly because I’m allergic to horses.

When I write a film, there’s a particular thing I am wrestling with and the question or concern I’m dealing with has to be big enough for me to dedicate a year or two of my life. If the question isn’t big enough, or rich enough, I’ll lose interest.

One man’s uplift is another man’s sentimental hooey.

A lot of times, we’re just sold these movies that are really cynically conceived and marketed, and they just want you there opening weekend, before everybody finds out it’s not so good.

Knowing when to say something and when not to say something is important.

I went through this very serious Woody Allen phase in college and a little bit after college. I still see his movies.

After a brief period in which I had let many a Southern Californian convince me that it was all ‘in my mind,’ I am once again officially allergic to dogs.

All of the things I used to obsess over, I’m no longer as obsessed with. I have new concerns but they’re a little more existential or cosmic.

We’re like a gardener with a hose and our attention is water – we can water flowers or we can water weeds.

The reflexive allergy to L.A. that a lot of New Yorkers have, I feel like it’s kind of nonsense.

Acting on stage is still my favorite thing to do. And everyone who’s been in musicals knows that there is nothing more fun.

If I’m feeling something, I have a lot of different ways to express it, you know? I can write an article about it. I can write a screenplay about it. I can act in someone’s thing.