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You can perceive life as tragic, or you can laugh at the tragedy of it and that turns it into comedy. It doesn't change the circumstances.

Harold Ramis

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Harold Ramis
Age: 69 †
Born: 1944
Born: November 21
Died: 2014
Died: February 24
Actor
Comedian
Director
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Television Actor
Writer
Chicago
Illinois
Harold Allen Ramis
Turns
Doesn
Tragic
Change
Perceive
Life
Tragedy
Laugh
Circumstances
Laughing
Comedy

More quotes by Harold Ramis

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Whenever a critic mentions the salary of an actor, I'm thinking, He's not talking about the movie.
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You can't not have feelings about country clubs, whichever side you're on.
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Films are big hits when they touch a lot of people. Things are not funny in a vacuum, they're funny because we respond to some personal dislocation, some embarrassment, some humiliation, some pain we've suffered, or some desire we have.
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I never read Playboy before I started working there and stopped reading it the day I quit.
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My only conclusion about structure is that nothing works if you don't have interesting characters and a good story to tell.
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The trick with sequels is, you have to give people what they liked before, yet be innovative enough so they don't feel like they're seeing the same movie.
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Some people have a fear of rejecting all the security that comes with family, church and state. They become fundamentalists.
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I'm sure that the liability for doing a tracheotomy would be tremendous. You make one mistake, and it's over. Most doctors won't even do it.
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We all wish we could be in more than one place at the same time. People with families feel guilty all the time-if we spend too much time with our family, we feel we're not working hard enough.
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You don't have to know much, just a little bit more than everybody else.
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You can't love somebody into a state of mental health.
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I've never taken a script to the stage or to principal photography and said, This is perfect. This is as good as it can possibly be. It's not Shakespeare, you know you know it can probably be better.
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I try to measure the amount of truth in a work rather than just looking at the generic distinction between comedy and drama.
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I was the little guy who knew how to tie a necktie. It came from having absentee parents. They were tremendously loving and caring people who, by circumstance, had to go to work.
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First and foremost, you have to make the movie for yourself. And that's not to say, to hell with everyone else, but what else have you got to go on but your own taste and judgment?
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I'm not a believer in the pratfall. I don't think it's funny just to have someone fall down.
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When you're a big enough part of the process that the Writers Guild gives you a lot of credit, that's a good thing. It tells me that I've had a significant impact on the film as a writer.
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As much as I liked acting for its playfulness and the reward of hearing big laughs wash over you on a stage, I always felt I should do something that I could control.
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Somebody once told me that if you laugh at a George Bush joke, or you send an email cartoon to your friends that makes Bush look like a fool, you feel like you've done something significant. But really, what have you actually done? Just expressing contempt for your leaders doesn't really accomplish anything.
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No matter what I have to say, I'm still trying to say it in comedic form.
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