I find that when I am actually writing, I enter a zone of concentration too small to admit my troubles.

I am as fond of colorful language as anyone, but I try not to inflict it upon strangers. I suspect many people sense they should have better manners, and need only a nudge. In high school, I was addressed for the first time in my life as "Mister Ebert" by Stanley Hynes, an English teacher, and his formality transformed his classroom into a place where a certain courtliness prevailed.

My favorite love scenes in movies don't involve passion, they involve nobility or sacrifice.

Movies that encourage empathy are more effective than those that objectify problems.

I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.

Cinema, for me, has always been something like music composed with photographic images.

What we have here is a rousing boy's adventure story, adapted from stories that Edgar Rice Burroughs cranked out for early pulp magazines. They lacked the visceral appeal of his Tarzan stories, which inspired an estimated 89 movies; amazingly, this is the first John Carter movie, but it is intended to foster a franchise and will probably succeed.