Jack Valenti Quotes

• The VCR is to the American film producer, as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone.

  Jack Valenti

  Home, Boston, Vcr

  45 Copy quote

• Washington and Hollywood spring from the same DNA.

  Jack Valenti

  Spring, Dna, Hollywood

  15 Copy quote

• There isn't anything in the world that can't be made better.

  Jack Valenti

  World, Made

  4 Copy quote

• Film-makers must decide what story to tell and how to tell it.

  Jack Valenti

  Stories, Film, Makers

  34 Copy quote

• In a political struggle, never get personal - else the dagger digs too deep.

  Jack Valenti

  Struggle, Political, Daggers

  "What Jack Valenti Taught Us All" by Matt Gerson, www.washingtonpost.com. April 28, 2007.

  7 Copy quote

• The only group in America that deserves to scrutinize what we are doing... are parents.

  Jack Valenti

  America, Parent, Groups

  7 Copy quote

• I sleep each night a little better, a little more confidently, because Lyndon Johnson is my president.

  Jack Valenti

  Sleep, Night, President

  Jack Valenti (2007). “This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood”, p.168, Crown Archetype

  52 Copy quote

• A huge parasite in the marketplace, feeding and fattening itself off of local television stations and copyright owners of copyrighted material. We do not like it because we think it wrong and unfair.

  Jack Valenti

  Thinking, Television, Unfair

  Jack Valenti's comments on the Cable television industry in testimony to Congress (June 1974), as quoted in "What Jack Valenti Did for Hollywood" by Richard Corliss, content.time.com. April 27, 2007.

  6 Copy quote

• If movies are causing moral decay, then crime ought to be going up, but crime is going down.

  Jack Valenti

  Movie, Decay, Moral

  9 Copy quote

• What is fair use? Fair use is not a law. There's nothing in law.

  Jack Valenti

  Law, Use, Fairs

  4 Copy quote

• No one today knows what is indecent.

  Jack Valenti

  Today, Knows

  "US TV industry plans June ad campaign on decency". Reuters, April 24, 2006.

  4 Copy quote

• A public domain work is an orphan. No one is responsible for its life. But everyone exploits its use, until that time certain when it becomes soiled and haggard, barren of its previous virtues. How does the consumer benefit from the steady decline of a film's quality?

  Jack Valenti

  Quality, Doe, Use

  "A Plea For Keeping Alive the U.S. Film Industry's Competitive Energy". Jack Valenti's speech as MPAA Chairman and CEO before The Senate Judiciary Committee, September 20, 1995.

  4 Copy quote

• If what you own cannot be protected, you own nothing.

  Jack Valenti

  Protected, Ifs

  Jack Valenti's testimony as President of the MPAA to the U.S. House of Representatives, cryptome.org. April 12, 1982.

  4 Copy quote

• If You Cannot Protect What You Own, You Don’t Own Anything!

  Jack Valenti

  Protect, Ifs

  Jack Valenti (2007). “This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood”, p.301, Crown Archetype

  4 Copy quote

• Every parent in America has the total power to control all television programming that is dispatched to their home today.

  Jack Valenti

  Home, Power, America

  7 Copy quote

• I don't care if you call it AO for Adults Only, or Chopped Liver or Father Goose. Your movie will still have the stigma of being in a category that's going to be inhabited by the very worst of pictures.

  Jack Valenti

  Movie, Father, Adults

  The New York Times, March 5, 1987.

  4 Copy quote

• In a sometimes unreasonable business, Jack Valenti was a giant voice of reason. He was the greatest ambassador Hollywood has ever known and I will value his wisdom and friendship for all time.

  Jack Valenti

  Voice, Hollywood, Giants

  4 Copy quote

• There is no fair use to take something that doesn't belong to you. That's not fair use.

  Jack Valenti

  Use, Fairs, Not Fair

  Interview with Peter Rojas, www.engadget.com. August 30, 2004.

  5 Copy quote

• I sleep each night a little better, a little more confidently, because Lyndon Johnson is my president. For I know he lives and thinks and works to make sure that for all America and indeed, the growing body of the free world, the morning shall always come.

  Jack Valenti

  Morning, Sleep, Night

  Jack Valenti (2007). “This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood”, p.168, Crown Archetype

  8 Copy quote

• To many Congressmen and Senators right now, there's a ceaseless antagonism toward Hollywood because politically, it is high-reward and low-risk. So when you can't do anything about poverty or the budget deficit, and you can't deal with Bosnia or the possibility of nuclear explosions in Russia, what do you do? You bash Hollywood and get on the front pages.

  Jack Valenti

  Russia, Risk, Bosnia

  "Public Endorses Uplifting Movies, Dole Tells Hollywood" by Adam Nagourney, www.nytimes.com. July 31, 1996.

  4 Copy quote

• The public's nerves are raw and edgy. You have to be discreet and understanding about the films you are showing.

  Jack Valenti

  Understanding, Edginess, Nerves

  10 Copy quote

• If you buy a DVD you have a copy. If you want a backup copy you buy another one.

  Jack Valenti

  Dvds, Want, Backup

  "DVD-copy program tweaked after court order", CNN.com, February 23, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• I found the most convincing part to be the working stiffs, the guys who have a modest home and kids who go to public schools. They make $75,000 to $100,000 a year. That's not much to live on. I don't have to tell you that.

  Jack Valenti

  Home, School, Kids

  Entertainment Weekly, April 18, 2003.

  4 Copy quote

• Foreign capital to build new cinemas will help modernize China's aging cinema infrastructure, attract Chinese consumers back into cinemas, and increase demand for U.S. films.

  Jack Valenti

  Chinese, Cinema, Demand

  23 Copy quote

• It is called the First Amendment. ...Simple words marching in seried ranks. Compact, concise. To the point. Clear and pure. It's freedom's music.

  Jack Valenti

  Simple, Firsts, Censorship

  7 Copy quote

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