Alan Ball Quotes

Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst.

I felt pride, wonderful pride, when I was captain. It was an honour to take over from Labby. Anybody who has ever captained a big club, which Everton are, will tell you it's a great honour.

Directing is physically exciting because there's a ticking clock, you're working with people, it's very social, it's very enjoyable.

Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same.

We live in a time where there's an alienation factor. There's a certain disconnection. We don't have any real sense of community anymore.

It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about.

I would say try to tell stories that you care about as opposed to stories that you think will sell.

I believe forgiveness is possible for everybody, for everything, but I'm a Buddhist.

Never underestimate the power of denial.

You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure.

I'm from the South, so while I personally find it impossible to live there, I still have a fondness for it as a geographical region.

I'm a Buddhist, so one of my biggest beliefs is, 'Everything changes, don't take it personally.'

If a scene is longer than three pages, it better be for a good reason.

I think it's very difficult, and it requires a tremendous amount of spiritual integrity and discipline, to not be a narcissist in a culture that encourages it every step of the way.

The fact that we die, that makes life important. It's hard to take, but it's the truth.

My own belief is that people can come back from anything. It doesn't mean that it won't come at a huge cost.

Death is a companion for all of us, whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we're aware of it or not, and it's not necessarily a terrible thing.

Vampires are total sexual metaphors; there's just no way around that.

Obviously death is a theme I'm fascinated by.

I'm used to American actors who have a movie career thinking television acting is beneath them.

I'm a huge freak, and always have been. I spent the first part of my life trying really desperately not to be one, and it was just a waste of time.

I'm at the point in my life where I don't want to work as hard. Actually, I've had to take a good hard look at workaholism and it's effect on one's mental health.

Most of us live in artificial environments and then we go to work in artificial environments and the world becomes something that you see through a window.

The difference between film and TV is the pace. You don't have the leisure of time in television.

When I go home, the last thing I want to do is read about the popular lore of vampires.

As a culture, we are not comfortable with mortality. We do not accept it the way other cultures do. We cling to youth, and we don't want to die. It's like, 'Well, too bad, we do.'

There is a fetishization of victimization in our culture. And I just am not interested in victimhood.

We live in a patriarchal culture. It's okay for women to be objectified but not for men.

I'm 53. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating and uninformed.

Racism is ridiculous no matter where it's coming from.

I think sexuality is a window into someone's soul.

I'm not a believer in luck, but I do believe you need it.

Not everything is going to be successful. To strive for that is really naive. You just do the best you can do.

I really love storytelling, and I love the stories as they reveal themselves. It's an incredibly nourishing process; it's probably the closest I come to having a religion.

I will say that the environment I grew up in was not the most progressive.

Happy relationships are boring. We all want them in our own life. But I don't want to watch them on TV.

I'd seen 'Interview with A Vampire' and saw Dracula movies growing up, but I never thought, 'I love vampires; I have to do a show about vampires.'

Well, here's the thing with relationships on 'True Blood': Once they happen then you have to throw a monkey-wrench into them, because to have people be happy is not that exciting.

Life is too mysterious to try to map it out. I've certainly lived long enough to know it will take you places you never thought it would take you - and some of those places are kind of wonderful.

A lot of times, the choice of the right song will save a scene. Or there will be a scene that's a little flat and you put in the right song and somehow it just comes alive.

Ultimately, physical resemblance isn't as important as whether this person can bring this character to life in a way that's compelling and makes me care about what happens to them.

Beauty is in the strangest places. A piece of garbage floating in the wind. And that beauty exists in America. It exists everywhere. You have to develop an eye for it and be able to see it.

I'm aware of 'Twilight,' but I've never seen the movies or read any of the books. Frankly, the story leaves me cold - why do a vampire story about abstinence?

The ego is kind of a big, unwieldy thing. It's not so easily tamed or subdued.

The important thing is that he shook hands with us over the phone.

There are times when I am directing, and there are a couple of moments I didn't get the way I wanted, but I know I still have other angles to shoot and I have to be done by noon; I move on.

I think vampires are a timeless powerful archetype that can tap into people's psyches.

I think the world is a place for oddballs and freaks. I'm only interested in oddballs and freaks as characters.

I am a little suspicious of industry paradigms. I feel like so many movies and TV shows feel so familiar because of over-reliance on these paradigms.

Well did you call the hypothetical hardware store and buy a theoretical chainsaw?-- Pam to Jessica, True Blood