Michael Moore Quotes (71 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Works

Stupid White Men ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!

Michael Moore

Michael Moore: 71 quotes 2 likes

Famous Michael Moore Quotes

“Hey, here's a way to stop suicide bombings — give the Palestinians a bunch of missile-firing Apache helicopters and let them and the Israelis go at each other head to head. Four billion dollars a year to Israel — four billion dollars a year to the Palestinians — they can just blow each other up and leave the rest of us the hell alone.”

Michael Moore

Dude, Where's My Country? (2003)
2003

“I will have to face an ugly truth that has been gnawing through my head…”

Michael Moore

In response to the September 11 attacks on New York City
2001
Context: I can't even think about this movie. I don't WANT to think about it because if I think about it I will have to face an ugly truth that has been gnawing through my head...
This started out as a documentary on gun violence in America, but the largest mass murder in our history was just committed — without the use of a single gun! Not a single bullet fired! No bomb was set off, no missile was fired, no weapon (i. e., a device that was solely and specifically manufactured to kill humans) was used. A boxcutter! — I can't stop thinking about this. A thousand gun control laws would not have prevented this massacre. What am I doing?

“Early talk was that anti-Bush people would go see it and pro-Bush people would stay home, and that's not the case. Most people do not go around with labels. A lot of Republicans have open minds.”

Michael Moore

On the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 — Zap2it.com (27 June 2004)
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

“Democracy is not a spectator sport, it's a participatory event. If we don't participate in it, it ceases to be a democracy. So Obama will rise or fall based not so much on what he does but on what we do to support him.”

Michael Moore

"Capitalism is evil," says new Michael Moore film, Mike, Collett-White, Reuters, 6 September 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5850F320090906,
2009

“I want to thank all the right-wing organizations out there who tried to stop the film, either from their harassment campaign that didn't work on the theatre owners, or going to the FEC to get our ads removed from television, to all the things that have been said on television. It's only encouraged more people to go and see it. We are happy to announce that the efforts of the small-minded few have failed miserably.”

Michael Moore

On the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 breaking box office records. — Zap2it.com (27 June 2004) http://www.zap2it.com/movies/go?path=/movies/news/story&general_id=22014
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

“The majority of Americans — the ones who never elected you — are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction.”

Michael Moore

About President George W. Bush, in "A Letter to George W. Bush on the Eve of War" (17 March 2003) http://www.alternet.org/story/15406/
2003

Michael Moore Quotes about people

“Should such an ignorant people lead the world? How did it come to this in the first place? 82 percent of us don't even have a passport! Just a handful can speak a language other than English”

Michael Moore

and we don't even speak that very well.
On Americans in an Open Letter to the German publication Die Zeit (11 June 2003) (published in German) http://www.zeit.de/2003/46/AbdruckMoor
2003

“A lot of political people, especially people on the left, have forgotten the importance of humor as an incredible weapon, and a vehicle through which to affect change.”

Michael Moore

The Corporation (2004)
2004

“Our young people who go off to war and who join the service, we need to honor them because they're willing to risk their lives to protect us, to defend us, so we can have this way of life. And the agreement that they make with us is that we never send them into harm's way unless it is absolutely necessary. I think most Americans — I just saw the latest poll today — 54% now believe that invading Iraq wasn't the wisest thing to do — it wasn't certainly in self-defense. You weren't threatened; I wasn't being threatened, and that's the only time, because ultimately if it was your child…would you give up your child to secure Fallujah?”

Michael Moore

On the television program Late Night with Conan O'Brien (25 June 2004)
2004

“Nothing would make me happier than to have you share it with everyone you know. All surveys have shown that, the more people who see it — especially those still sitting on the fence — the more likely we will have regime change.”

Michael Moore

[Fahrenheit 9/11 Out On Home Video/DVD Today! Pass it Around..., MichaelMoore.com, 5 October 2004, http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/fahrenheit-911-out-on-home-videodvd-today-pass-it-around]
On the DVD release of Fahrenheit 9/11
2004

“I stopped reading the comics page a long time ago. It seems that whoever is in charge of what to put on that page is given an edict that states: “For God’s sake, try to be as bland as possible and by no means offend any one!” Thus, whenever something like Doonesbury would come along, it would be continually censored and, if lucky, eventually banished to the editorial pages. The message was clear: Keep it simple, keep it cute, and don’t be challenging, outrageous or political.
And keep it white!
It’s odd that considering all the black ink that goes into making the comics section (and color on Sundays) that you rarely see any black faces on that page. Well, maybe it’s not so odd after all, considering the makeup of most newsrooms in our country. It is even more stunning when you consider that in many of our large cities like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago where the white population is barely a third of the overall citizenry, the comics pages seem to be one of the last vestiges of the belief that white faces are just…well, you know…so much more happy and friendly and funny!
Of course, the real funnies are on the front pages of most papers these days. That’s where you can see a lot of black faces. The media loves to cover black people on the front page. After all, when you live in a society that will lock up 30 percent of all black men at some time in their lives and send more of them to prison than to college, chances are a fair number of those black faces will end up in the newspaper.
Oops, there I go playing the race card. You see, in America these days, we aren’t supposed to talk about race. We have been told to pretend that things have gotten better, that the old days of segregation and cross burnings are long gone, and that no one needs to talk about race again because, hey, we fixed that problem.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, the “whites only” signs are down, but they have just been replaced by invisible ones that, if you are black, you see hanging in front of the home loan department of the local bank, across the entrance of the ritzy suburban or on the doors of the U. S. Senate”

Michael Moore

100 percent Caucasian and going strong!
Foreword to "The Boondocks Treasury: a Right to be Hostile" by Aaron McGruder, (2003).
2003

“They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet… in thrall to conniving, thieving, smug pricks. We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing. National Geographic produced a survey which showed that 60 percent of 18-25 year olds don't know where Great Britain is on a map. And 92 percent of us don't own a passport.”

Michael Moore

On the American public, as quoted in "The Awkward Conscience of a Nation" in The Daily Mirror (3 November 2003); also partly quoted in "The company they keep" by Michael Barone, in U.S.News & World Report (12 July 2004) http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/040712/12barone.htm
2004

Michael Moore: Trending quotes

“What the media are telling you to be afraid of are the wrong things…”

Michael Moore

Interview with filmmaker Michael Moore, Rolling Stone (January 2003)
2003
Context: What the media are telling you to be afraid of are the wrong things... Fear is a necessary ingredient of our survival instincts.

“I don't agree with the copyright laws, and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people… as long as they're not doing it to make a profit off it as long as they're not, you know trying to make a profit off my labor”

Michael Moore

2004
Context: I don't agree with the copyright laws, and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people… as long as they're not doing it to make a profit off it as long as they're not, you know trying to make a profit off my labor — I would oppose that but you know I do quite well, and I don't know... I make these books and movies and TV shows because I want things to change, and so the more people who get to see them, the better. And so I'm…I'm happy I'm happy if that happens. Should I not be happy? I don't know, It's like if a friend of yours had the DVD of my movie — gave it to you to watch one night is that person doing something wrong? I'm not seeing any money from that, but he's just handing the DVD to you so that you can watch my movie, that he bought, and you're not buying it — and yet you're watching it without paying me any money you see, I think that's OK, I mean, that's always been okay right? — You share things with people and I think information, and art, and ideas should be shared.

After being asked what he thought about his films being pirated on the internet, in a press conference (July 2004) (YouTube video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlAB0v8wHdc, quoted in

People , Law , Problem

“We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times.”

Michael Moore

Oscar Speech for Best Documentary Feature (23 March 2003) http://www.oscars.org/75academyawards/winners/docfeature.html
2003
Context: Whoa. On behalf of our producers Kathleen Glynn and Michael Donovan from Canada, I'd like to thank the Academy for this. I have invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us, and we would like to — they're here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fictition of duct tape or fictition of orange alerts we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Thank you very much.

Time

Michael Moore Quotes

“I'm going to do damage with it. I'll make sure that my work gets out. That no publisher will ever be able to tell me to take things out. Because I'll put it out myself.”

Michael Moore

Upon being asked by Brian Reade if money and success have gone to his head, quoted in "The Awkward Conscience of a Nation" in The Daily Mirror (3 November 2003) - Full text available at Highbeam Research (paysite) http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-109560361.html 
2003
Context: I'm going to do damage with it. I'll make sure that my work gets out. That no publisher will ever be able to tell me to take things out. Because I'll put it out myself. The more money I earn, the less they can stop me. Where I come from it's called fuck you money because I don't have to take an ounce of shit from anybody.

“You survive by having your fear compass calibrated correctly. Our compass is off now because we're being told to be afraid of everything.”

Michael Moore

Interview on All Things Considered NPR (November 2002) http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=2
2002
Context: You survive by having your fear compass calibrated correctly. Our compass is off now because we're being told to be afraid of everything. The things that we're frightened of, or told to be frightened of, are not necessarily the things that we need to fear.

Fear

“Well I failed to bring Roger to Flint. As we neared the end of the twentieth century, the rich were richer, the poor, poorer.”

Michael Moore

Roger & Me (1989)
Context: Well I failed to bring Roger to Flint. As we neared the end of the twentieth century, the rich were richer, the poor, poorer. And people everywhere now had a lot less lint, thanks to the lint rollers made in my hometown. It was truly the dawn of a new era.

“I think filmmakers are wrong about this. I think sharing's a good thing. … They said television would kill the movies, it didn't. They said VCRs would kill the movies, it didn't. Now they're saying this is going to kill the movies. It won't.”

Michael Moore

On the posting of his film SiCKO on the Internet, prior to its official release, as quoted in "Michael Moore Takes on His Pirates!" by Edward Douglas (19 June 2007) http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=21141
2007
Context: The film that's leaked onto the Internet is not taken at a movie theatre with a little home video camera, right? The way it's usually done? This is an inside job... Now, if you were a police detective, one of the first questions you'd ask is motive. Who has a vested interest in destroying the opening weekend's box office of this movie? If I were the police or the FBI investigating this felony that's taken place, that's where I would look.
Having said that, I'm glad that people were able to see my movie. … I'm not a big believer in our copyright laws. I think they're way too restrictive. … I've never supported this concept of going after Napster. I think the rock bands who fought this were wrong. I think filmmakers are wrong about this. I think sharing's a good thing. … They said television would kill the movies, it didn't. They said VCRs would kill the movies, it didn't. Now they're saying this is going to kill the movies. It won't. People want to get out of the house and go to the movies! Nothing's ever going to kill that, and I really hope people will do that on opening weekend.

Thinking

“No bomb was set off, no missile was fired, no weapon (i.e., a device that was solely and specifically manufactured to kill humans) was used. A boxcutter! — I can't stop thinking about this. A thousand gun control laws would not have prevented this massacre.”

Michael Moore

Law , Thinking

“Librarians see themselves as the guardians of the First Amendment. … You got a thousand Mother Joneses at the barricades!”

Michael Moore

On the role of outraged librarians protesting when publisher HarperCollins insisted he rewrite Stupid White Men to be less critical of President Bush. "Muzzling Moore" Salon (7 January 2002) http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2002/01/07/moore/print.html
2002
Context: Librarians see themselves as the guardians of the First Amendment. … You got a thousand Mother Joneses at the barricades! I love the librarians, and I am grateful for them!

“I think that's OK, I mean, that's always been okay right? — You share things with people and I think information, and art, and ideas should be shared.”

Michael Moore

After being asked what he thought about his films being pirated on the internet, in a press conference (July 2004) (YouTube video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlAB0v8wHdc, quoted in
2004
Context: I don't agree with the copyright laws, and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people… as long as they're not doing it to make a profit off it as long as they're not, you know trying to make a profit off my labor — I would oppose that but you know I do quite well, and I don't know... I make these books and movies and TV shows because I want things to change, and so the more people who get to see them, the better. And so I'm…I'm happy I'm happy if that happens. Should I not be happy? I don't know, It's like if a friend of yours had the DVD of my movie — gave it to you to watch one night is that person doing something wrong? I'm not seeing any money from that, but he's just handing the DVD to you so that you can watch my movie, that he bought, and you're not buying it — and yet you're watching it without paying me any money you see, I think that's OK, I mean, that's always been okay right? — You share things with people and I think information, and art, and ideas should be shared.

People , Art , Idea , Thinking

“George Orwell once wrote: "And it's not a matter of whether the war is not real or if it is. Victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia but to keep the very structure of society intact."”

Michael Moore

The quote is almost identical to a block of narration from the 1984 movie version of "1984", which is excerpted from various parts of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four with some paraphrasing.
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

War , Effort , Past , Victory

“I forgot out there on the stage to thank my cast. So if I could do that now, I want to thank Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld. I thought the love scene between Cheney and Rumsfeld brought a tear to my eye.”

Michael Moore

Statement after winning the top prize at the Cannes film festival for Fahrenheit 9/11, quoted Reuters reports (22 May 2004), partly quoted in [Moore scoops Palme d'Or with attack on US president, Patrick, Barkham, The Guardian, 24 May 2004, http://film.guardian.co.uk/cannes2004/story/0,,1223156,00.html]
2004

Love , Tear

“I think the United States, I think our government knows where he is and I don't think we're going to be capturing him or killing him any time soon.”

Michael Moore

About Osama bin Laden in an interview with Bob Costas on On the Record with Bob Costas HBO (Spring 2003)
2003

Thinking , Time

“I may be preaching to the choir, but the choir needs a good song.”

Michael Moore

USA Today (20 June 2004)
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

“Stop this war! Shame on you Hobbits! Shame on you! This is a fictitious war! This Lord was not elected by the popular — [a computer-generated Oliphaunt steps on Moore, crushing him].”

Michael Moore

In a humorous sendup of Moore's previous acceptance speech for Best Documentary Feature at the 2003 Oscars. Moore himself delivered the lines in the opening act of the 2004 Oscars, while standing in front of a greenscreen which had the Battle of the Pelennor Fields scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King playing on it; a battle which was, itself, literally fictitious. (23 March 2004)
2004

War

“Jesus told us that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us.”

Michael Moore

The View (19 June 2007) http://hotair.com/archives/2007/06/19/video-jesus-wants-you-to-nationalize-health-care-says-moore/
2007

“They serve so that we don't have to. They offer to give up their lives so that we can be free. It is, remarkably, their gift to us. And all they ask for in return is that we never send them into harm's way unless it is absolutely necessary. Will they ever trust us again?”

Michael Moore

Comments by Moore, about the men and women in the U.S. Armed Services. Fahrenheit 9/11
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Way

“Today just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined.”

Michael Moore

Speech delivered at Wisconsin Capitol in Madison (5 March 2011)
Claim found to be "true" by PolitiFact and others.
2011
Source: [Moore, Michael, America Is Not Broke, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/america-is-not-broke_b_832006.html, 6 March 2011, Huffington Post, 11 August 2013]
Source: [Kertscher, Tom, Borowski, Greg, The Truth-O-Meter Says: True - Michael Moore says 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined, http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/10/michael-moore/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/, 10 March 2011, PolitiFact, 11 August 2013]
Source: [Moore, Michael, Michael Moore, The Forbes 400 vs. Everybody Else, http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/forbes-400-vs-everybody-else, March 7, 2011, michaelmoore.com http://www.michaelmoore.com/, yes, 2011-03-09, 2014-08-28, http://web.archive.org/web/20110309211959/http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/forbes-400-vs-everybody-else]
Source: [Pepitone, Julianne, Forbes 400: The super-rich get richer, http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/22/news/companies/forbes_400/index.htm, 22 September 2010, CNN, 11 August 2013]
Source: [Johnson, Dave, 9 Pictures That Expose This Country's Obscene Division of Wealth, http://www.alternet.org/story/149918/9_pictures_that_expose_this_country%27s_obscene_division_of_wealth, 14 February 2011, Alternet, 11 August 2013]

Wealth

“I just decided to make a movie. I had no training, no film school, but I had been to a lot of movies.”

Michael Moore

As quoted in "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" (23 June 2007)
2009

School , Training

“White people scare the crap out of me… I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black landlord, never had a black landlord… never been pulled over by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman, never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a bank loan, never had a black person bury my movie, and I've never heard a black person say, "We're going to eliminate ten thousand jobs here — have a nice day!"”

Michael Moore

[Stupid White Men ...and Other Excuses For the State of the Nation!, 2001, 0060392452, 49040476]
2001

People , Cars , Personality

“Controversy… What Controversy?”

Michael Moore

Humorous lines of various advertisements for the film, some showing doctored pictures of Moore walking hand in hand with George W. Bush.
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

“We are the richest country in the world. We spend more on health care than any other country. Yet we have the worst health care in the Western world. Come on. We can do better than this.”

Michael Moore

As quoted in Sicko is Socko, Richard, Corliss, Time, 19 May 2007 http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1623337,00.html,
2007

Health , World , Country

“Donald J. Trump is going to win in November. This wretched, ignorant, dangerous part-time clown and full time sociopath is going to be our next president. President Trump. Go ahead and say the words, 'cause you'll be saying them for the next four years: "PRESIDENT TRUMP."”

Michael Moore

" 5 Reasons Trump Will Win http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/", MichaelMoore.com (July 21, 2016)
2016

Time , Parting

“Halliburton is not a "company" doing business in Iraq. It is a WAR PROFITEER, bilking millions from the pockets of average Americans. In past wars they would have been arrested — or worse.
The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush?”

Michael Moore

2004

War , Business , Past

“There is a lot of talk amongst Bush's opponents that we should turn this war over to the United Nations. Why should the other countries of this world, countries who tried to talk us out of this folly, now have to clean up our mess? I oppose the U. N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle. I'm sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe — just maybe — God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end.”

Michael Moore

[Heads Up... from Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com, 14 April 2004, http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/heads-up-from-michael-moore]
2004

God , War , Children , People

“I would not use either of those words to describe myself. I would say I'm an Eagle Scout and I'm overweight.”

Michael Moore

When asked what he thought about he thought about people who called him un-American and a traitor, as quoted in "Filmmaker rehashes politics in Dome speech" in The Daily Orange (23 September 2004) http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2004/09/23/Pulp/Filmmaker.Rehashes.Politics.In.Dome.Speech-728133.shtml
2004

Scouting

“There are problems in all health-care systems, but at least [Europeans] have a health-care system that covers everyone, and it's not my position or my right or my responsibility to point out the flaws in [your] health-care system — that is your job — it is your job to fix those problems.”

Michael Moore

Casa del Cinema press conference, Rome, Italy, (August 2007)
2007

Health , Problem

“It was the morning of April 20, 1999, and it was pretty much like any other morning in America. The Farmer did his chores. The milkman made his deliveries. The President bombed another country whose name we couldn't pronounce. Out in Fargo, North Dakota, Cary McWilliams went on his morning walk. Back in Michigan, Mrs Hughes welcomed her students for another day of school. And out in a little town in Colorado, two boys went bowling at 6 in the morning. Yes, it was a typical day in the United States of America.”

Michael Moore

Bowling for Columbine (2002) [released 11 October 2002]
2002

School , Boy , Country

“I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a "deserter." What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar, and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants.”

Michael Moore

2004

“How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?”

Michael Moore

[A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com, 11 September 2005, http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/a-letter-to-all-who-voted-for-george-w-bush-from-michael-moore]
2005

Guy , Feeling , Horse

“Clearly something has happened here that no one expected. And there aren't words to describe how any of us feel this morning on hearing this news.”

Michael Moore

[The Political 'Fahrenheit' Sets Record At Box Office, The New York Times, 28 June 2004, Sharon, Waxman]
On the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 breaking all box office records for a documentary in its first weekend, and becoming the first documentary ever to become number one at the box office in North American ticket sales.
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Feeling

“The motivation for war is simple. The U. S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U. S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.”

Michael Moore

As quoted in Koch: Moore's propaganda film cheapens debate, polarizes nation, Ed, Koch, World Tribune, 29 June 2004 http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2004/guest_koch_6_28.html,
2004

War , Motivation , Business , Country

“Maybe it's a sick fantasy of mine, but I am really looking forward to a debate between a general and a deserter. Plus, I really want to hear President Bush have to say, "Yes, General, No, General."”

Michael Moore

On prospects of a debate between Wesley Clark and George W. Bush, as quoted at Treason Online (29 October 2003) http://treasononline.blogspot.com/2003_10_26_archive.html
2003

“Fahrenheit 9/11: The temperature where freedom burns!”

Michael Moore

A phrase used in some advertisements, it is wordplay based on the title of Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451 about a totalitarian state, and the assertion made within it that 451° Fahrenheit was "The temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns."
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Freedom

“Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?”

Michael Moore

2005

Cars , Idea , Help

“There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them.”

Michael Moore

The capped crusader, The Guardian, 4 October 2003, Gary, Younge http://www.guardian.co.uk/michaelmoore/story/0,,1055591,00.html,
2003

People , Religion

“You've got the Bush Administration using that event in such a disrespectful and immoral way — using the deaths of those people to try and shred our civil liberties, change our Constitution, round people up. That's not how you honor them, by using them to change our way of life as a free country.”

Michael Moore

On the use of the September 11th attacks to expand governmental powers and diminish civil liberties, through "The Patriot Act". — CBS interview (June 2004) http://news4colorado.com/topstories/topstories_story_179195105.html
2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Life , Death , People , Way

“Moore called the Affordable Care Act “awful” and added that, “Obamacare’s rocky start … is a result of one fatal flaw: The Affordable Care Act is a pro-insurance-industry plan implemented by a president who knew in his heart that a single-payer, Medicare-for-all model was the true way to go.” Nonetheless, Moore considered the plan a "godsend" since it provides a start "to get what we deserve: universal quality health care.””

Michael Moore

Op-Ed written by Michael Moore in the New York Times (31 December 2013)
2013

Health , Way , Universe , Heart

“My mum taught me how to read before I went to kindergarden, I always thought that being able to read provided lightness, help to dispel darkness, ignorance and stupidity.”

Michael Moore

Interview while promoting Capitalism : A Love Story (March 2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx2tJg91hsU
2010

Stupidity , Light , Reading , Help

“How about that McDonalds two blocks from Ground Zero? That's killed more people than the nineteen hijackers.”

Michael Moore

On HBO's "Real Time" http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/09/18/michael-moore-mcdonalds-ground-zero-killed-more-people-9-11-hijackers#ixzz0zzGIpSLV (September 17, 2010)
2010

People

“Many families have been devastated tonight. This is just not right. They did not deserve to die. … If someone did this to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him. Boston, New York, D. C., and the planes' destination of California — these were the places that voted AGAINST Bush.”

Michael Moore

Statement of 12 September 2001 attributed to Moore, as published in [Michael Moore, Humbug, City Journal, Summer 2003, Kay S., Hymowitz, http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_3_michael_moore.html]
2001

People , Family

“Four hundred obscenely wealthy individuals, 400 little Mubaraks -- most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion-dollar taxpayer bailout of 2008 -- now have more cash, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined.”

Michael Moore

Speech delivered at Wisconsin Capitol in Madison (5 March 2011)
Claim found to be "true" by PolitiFact and others.
2011

Way

“The next wave of fascists will not come with cattle cars and concentration camps, but they'll come with a smiley face and maybe a TV show … That’s how the 21st-century fascists will essentially take over.”

Michael Moore

" Michael Moore: Fascists Now Come With ‘A Smiley Face And Maybe A TV Show’ https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-moore-donald-trump_us_5829c5bce4b02d21bbc97cab" - stated right after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and inspired by the 1980 book, Friendly Fasicism (November 14, 2016)
2016

Cars

“Because it would be Un-American.”

Michael Moore

Reply to a question as to why the standing down of the NORAD aerial forces on September 11, 2001 was not included in his movie Fahrenheit 9/11, as seen Martial Law: 9/11 Rise of the Police State (03:34, 2005) by Alex Jones.
2005

“These bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control.”

Michael Moore

[Dude, Where's My Country?, 2003, 0446532231, 53112245]
2003

Country

“No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing — NOTHING — to do with this!”

Michael Moore

[Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush, MichaelMoore.com, 2 September 2005, http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/vacation-is-over-an-open-letter-from-michael-moore-to-george-w-bush]
2005

People , Imagination

“The French, the British and the Canadian stuff that's in the films is through my American eyes, and I'm comparing it to America, and I'm not saying they don't have problems. But those aren't for me to fix. Trust me, from an American point of view, the Europeans look pretty good. You need to preserve what you have and fight to get back that which you lost.”

Michael Moore

Interview with Jay Harris http://www.thebragmag.com/features/michael-moore-talks-to-the-bra.php, in The Brag (August 2007)
2007

Problem , Fight

“He is probably choking on a pretzel or something. I hope nobody tells him that I have won this award while he is eating a pretzel. … He has the funniest lines in the film. I am eternally grateful to him.”

Michael Moore

Statement about US President George W. Bush, at press conference after winning the top prize at the Cannes film festival for Fahrenheit 9/11; quoted in Reuters reports (22 May 2004) http://guardianangels-mn.org/Minnesota/Too-funny-to-keep-in-mn.politics.html and in [Moore scoops Palme d'Or with attack on US president, Patrick, Barkham, The Guardian, 24 May 2004, http://film.guardian.co.uk/cannes2004/story/0,,1223156,00.html]
2004

Hope

“You know he's there illegally. You know he was not elected either by the popular vote or by the vote in Florida.”

Michael Moore

On President George W. Bush in "BuzzFlash Interviews Michael Moore" (13 March 2002) http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/2002/03/Michael_Moore_031302.html
2002

“I'm a millionaire, I'm a multi-millionaire, I'm filthy rich. You know why I'm a multi-millionaire? 'Cause multi-millions like what I do. That's pretty good, isn't it? There's millions that believe in what I do. Pretty cool, huh?”

Michael Moore

Responding to criticism over his purchase of a million-dollar home, as quoted in the Arcata Eye (3 March 2002); and in "Moore Lies, Moore Fun at Stanford" by Joe Fairbanks in the Stanford Review (17 April 2002) http://www.stanfordreview.org/Archive/Volume_XXVIII/Issue_4/Opinion/opinion2.shtml
2002

“We know all those facts about Florida and what Katherine Harris did, and the private firm that took African-Americans off the voting rolls and prohibited them from voting. But I've been surprised in this first week how many average Americans were not aware of all of the trickery and deceit that took place in the year before the election to fix it for George W. Bush.”

Michael Moore

"BuzzFlash Interviews Michael Moore" (13 March 2002)
2002

“There is no terrorist threat. Yes, there have been horrific acts of terrorism and, yes, there will be acts of terrorism again. But that doesn't mean that there's some kind of massive terrorist threat.”

Michael Moore

As quoted in a review of Fahrenhype 9/11, FahrenHYPE 9/11: Morris vs. Moore, Chicago Sun Times, 28 October 2004, Jim, Emerson http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040802/EDITOR/41028002, - some indications exist that this was from a speech in Power Center, Michigan, promoting Dude (2003)
2004