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Tim Burton Quotes

Timothy Walter Burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer, and animator. He is known for his dark, gothic, eccentric, and quirky fantasy films such as Beetlejuice , Edward Scissorhands , the animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas , the biographical film Ed Wood , the horror fantasy Sleepy Hollow , and later efforts such as Corpse Bride , Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , Dark Shadows , and Frankenweenie . He is also known for blockbusters such as the adventure comedy Pee-wee's Big Adventure , the superhero films Batman and its first sequel Batman Returns , the sci-fi film Planet of the Apes , the fantasy drama Big Fish , the musical adventure film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , and the fantasy film Alice in Wonderland , which garnered a worldwide gross of over $1 billion.

Burton has worked repeatedly with Johnny Depp, who has become a close friend of Burton since their first film together. He has also worked with musician Danny Elfman, who has composed scores for all but three of the films Burton has directed. Actress Helena Bonham Carter, Burton's former domestic partner, has appeared in many of his films. He also wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, published in 1997 by Faber and Faber, and a compilation of his drawings, sketches and other artwork, entitled The Art of Tim Burton, was released in 2009. A follow-up to The Art of Tim Burton, entitled The Napkin Art of Tim Burton: Things You Think About in a Bar, containing sketches made by Burton in napkins at bars and restaurants he occasionally visits, was released in 2015. Both compilations were published by Steeles Publishing.

✵ 25. August 1958
Tim Burton photo
Tim Burton: 43 quotes95 likes

Famous Tim Burton Quotes

“I have a problem when people say something's real or not real, or normal or abnormal. The meaning of those words for me is very personal and subjective. I've always been confused and never had a clearcut understanding of the meaning of those kinds of words.”

Tim Burton

“I'm not crazy, my reality is just different than yours.”

Tim Burton

“I always liked strange characters.”

Tim Burton

“I've always been misrepresented. You know, I could dress in a clown costume and laugh with the happy people but they'd still say I'm a dark personality.”

Tim Burton

“Mad Matter: "Have I gone mad?"
Alice: "I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

Tim Burton

Source: Alice in Wonderland: Based on the Motion Picture Directed by Tim Burton

Tim Burton Quotes about people

“Most people say about graveyards: "Oh, it's just a bunch of dead people. It's creepy." But for me, there's an energy to it that it not creepy, or dark. It has a positive sense to it.”

Tim Burton

“Why would you want to go up there, when people are dying to get down here?”

Tim Burton

Source: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: The Illustrated Story

“You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

Tim Burton

Source: Alice in Wonderland: Based on the Motion Picture Directed by Tim Burton

“Maybe it’s just in America, but it seems that if you’re passionate about something, it freaks people out. You’re considered bizarre or eccentric. To me, it just means you know who you are.”

Tim Burton

Tim Burton Quotes about life

“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that's why we're all interested in movies- those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it's actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”

Tim Burton

Source: Burton on Burton

“And in that one grey hair I saw my whole life and I said "I think I need a hair.”

Tim Burton

Source: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“One of the things that we were trying to do with this show was the complexities of relationships and love. There is both passion and longing and a bittersweet quality to it that is a part of life.”

Tim Burton

Source: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: An Invitation to the Wedding

Tim Burton Quotes

“For some of us, Halloween is everyday.”

Tim Burton

Source: Tim Burton

Tim Burton quote: “Movies are like an expensive form of therapy for me.”

“Movies are like an expensive form of therapy for me.”

Tim Burton

“I am not a dark person and I don't consider myself dark.”

Tim Burton

“One person's craziness is another person's reality.”

Tim Burton

Variant: One person's crazyness is another person's reality

“We all know interspecies romance is weird.”

Tim Burton

“Son, are you happy?
I don't mean to pry,
but do you dream of Heaven?
Have you ever wanted to die?”

Tim Burton

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

“Good morning starshine the earth says hello….”

Tim Burton

Source: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“Half the fun is plan to plan”

Tim Burton

“Voodoo girl

But she knows she has a curse on her,
a curse she cannot win.
For if someone gets too close to her,
the pins stick farther in.”

Tim Burton

Variant: But she knows she has a curse on her,
a curse she cannot win.
For if someone gets too close to her,

the pins stick further in.
Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

“Everything in this room is edible. Even I'm edible. But, that would be called canibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”

Tim Burton

Source: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“Stick Boy liked Match Girl,
He liked her a lot.
He liked her cute figure,
he thought she was hot.

But could a flame ever burn
for a match and a stick?
It did quite literally;
he burned up quick.”

Tim Burton

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

“The Girl With Many Eyes
One day in the park
I had quite a surprise.
I met a girl
who had many eyes.

She was really quite pretty
(and also quite shocking!)
and I noticed she had a mouth,
so we ended up talking.

We talked about flowers,
and her poetry classes,
and the problems she'd have
if she ever wore glasses.

It's great to know a girl
who has so many eyes,
but you really get wet
when she breaks down and cries.”

Tim Burton

“My name is Jimmy,
but my friends just call me
the hideous penguin boy.”

Tim Burton

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

“They took a baseball bat
and whacked open his head.
Mummy Boy fell to the ground;
he finally was dead.
Inside of his head
were no candy or prizes,
just a few stray beetles
of various sizes.”

Tim Burton

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

“And I Jack, the Pumpkin King, have grown so tired of the same old thing…”

Tim Burton

Source: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas

“I wouldn't know a good script if it bit me in the face.”

Tim Burton

“My diagnosis," he said
"for better or worse,
is that your son is the result
of an old pharaoh's curse.”

Tim Burton

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

“You don't know whether chimps are going to kill you or kiss you. They're very open on some levels and much more evil in a certain way.”

Tim Burton

“If you've ever had that feeling of loneliness, of being an outsider, it never quite leaves you. You can be happy or successful or whatever, but that thing still stays within you.”

Tim Burton

“Can a heart break, once it's stopped beating?”

Tim Burton

Source: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: The Illustrated Story

“Mayor: How horrible our Christmas will be!
Jack Skellington: *No.*
[the Mayor switches to his upset face]
Jack Skellington: How *jolly*!
Mayor: Oh. How *jolly* our Christmas will be”

Tim Burton

“Unwisely, Santa offered a teddy bear to James, unaware
he had been mauled by a grizzly earlier this year.”

Tim Burton

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

“The Boy with Nails in His Eyes
put up his aluminum tree.
It looked pretty strange
because he couldn't really see.”

Tim Burton

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

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