Welcome to a collection of thought-provoking insights from one of America’s most prominent filmmakers and social commentators, Michael Moore. Throughout his career, Moore has fearlessly delved into the heart of societal issues, unearthing truths often overlooked or ignored. His documentaries, essays, and public appearances serve as rallying cries for social justice, challenging the status quo and sparking vital conversations about politics, economics, and human rights.
With a blend of wit, humor, and unyielding passion, Michael Moore tackles complex topics with an unwavering commitment to exposing injustices and advocating for change. Whether dissecting corporate greed, critiquing political structures, or championing the voices of the marginalized, Moore’s words resonate with audiences worldwide, inspiring action and fostering a deeper understanding of the world we inhabit. As you explore the following selection of Michael Moore quotes, prepare to be enlightened, challenged, and empowered to make a difference in the world.
Capitalism would have never let me be a filmmaker, living in Flint, Michigan with a high school education. I was going to have to make that happen myself. Michael Moore
Greed has been with human beings forever. We have a number of things in our species that you would call ‘the dark side,’ and greed is one of them. If you don’t put certain structures in place or restrictions on those parts of our being that come from that dark place, then it gets out of control. Michael Moore
I don’t like to sit around whining about the corporate media, how they control everything, own everything. We already know that. Michael Moore
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
I’m going to guess Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, all want clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. I’m sure most people think women should be paid the same as men if they’re doing the same job. I think we all want good schools for our kids. If we made that list, we actually are in agreement on more things. Michael Moore
All of our political parties are bought and paid for by corporate America, Wall Street, and the wealthy interests. The Republican Party more so, but the Democrats take their share of the loot, too. Michael Moore
Any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Michael Moore
What really went wrong is that General Motors has had this philosophy from the beginning that what’s good for General Motors is good for the country. So, their attitude was, ‘We’ll build it and you buy it. We’ll tell you what to buy. You just buy it.’ Michael Moore
I’m used to my films having little effect on making the world a better place. Michael Moore
Documentaries are a form of journalism. Michael Moore
There’s a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Michael Moore
You can’t regulate child labor. You can’t regulate slavery. Some things are just wrong. Michael Moore
As you have fewer and fewer voices in a democracy, in a free society, it’s not good to limit the number of voices. Michael Moore
I believe that when you provide information to people, they become less fearful and they will engage more in their democracy if they are empowered with information. Michael Moore
I’m interested to see what happens with Fox News and phone hacking. I really can’t believe it just happens in Great Britain. Because really, who cares about just hacking phones over there? Michael Moore
If you reduce the guns and the ammo, you’ll reduce the murders. Michael Moore
I don’t believe that the Bush Administration had something to do with September 11th. I do believe that there were a lot of warning signals, but I don’t think they were ignored on purpose – Bush just wanted to go to the ranch for a month. Michael Moore
Listen friends, you have to face the truth: You are never going to be rich… The system is rigged in favor of the few, and your name is not among them, not now and not ever. Michael Moore
We’re never gonna get rid of crazy people. They’ve been around for thousands of years – they’ll continue to be around; they’ll continue to do horrible things. Michael Moore
I still believe the lessons I learned when I was raised in a Roman Catholic household. Like, it’s harder for a rich man to get into Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Michael Moore
I don’t compromise my values and I don’t compromise my work. That’s why I’ve been kicked from one network to the next: I won’t give in. Michael Moore
I watch way too much C-SPAN. Michael Moore
I certainly believe that I have no right to tell another couple whether they can or cannot be married. Michael Moore
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. Michael Moore
We all need to be huge supporters of the theatrical documentary. Michael Moore
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
A majority of this country opposes this war, a majority of this country never voted for this administration. Michael Moore
For a documentary filmmaker, I do very well. Michael Moore
My dad was an assembly line worker at AC Spark Plug, which was a division of General Motors, and his job was to build and then inspect the little spark plugs as they came off the line. Michael Moore
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
Since 9/11, the Bush administration has used that tragic event as a justification to rip up our constitution and our civil liberties. And I honestly believe that one or two 9/11s, and martial law will be declared in our country and we’re inching towards a police state. Michael Moore
I do believe that we are to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute you. I believe that there is power and strength in that. Michael Moore
Nobody had a credit card when I was a kid. No one had credit card debt. But these big companies and banks wanted to know how to get more money out of people – get them charging things. Michael Moore
Capitalism and democracy are the opposite of each other. Capitalism is a system that guarantees that a few are going to do very well, and everybody else is going to serve the few. Democracy means everybody has a seat at the table. Everybody. Michael Moore
Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy. Michael Moore
Democracy is not a spectator sport, it’s a participatory event. If we don’t participate in it, it ceases to be a democracy. Michael Moore
When I’m shooting a movie, I’m always in an invisible theater seat. I respect the fact that people have worked hard all week and want to go to the movies on the weekend and be entertained. Michael Moore
I don’t want to do anything that violates my own personal code of ethics and morals. Michael Moore
There’s no violence coming from the Occupy protesters. Michael Moore
Yeah, I think of what I do as a work of journalism. It’s more like the op-ed page, though. These are my opinions. My point of view. The opinions are mine and I let you make up your own mind. Michael Moore
Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. Michael Moore
Every fact in my films is true. And yet how often do I have to read over and over again about supposed falsehoods? Michael Moore
If we didn’t have Social Security, our seniors would live mostly in poverty. You’d have another 18 million people in poverty. Michael Moore
We as Americans believe it’s OK to kill people. We believe it’s OK to invade a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. We think it’s OK to invade a country where we think Osama Bin Laden is and he’s in the other country. So we just go in and we just kill. And we have the death penalty; we sanction it. Michael Moore
No one is entertained by economics. Michael Moore
My films don’t have instant impact because they’re dense with ideas that people have not thought about. It takes a while for the American public to wrap its head around some of the things I’m saying. Michael Moore
My dad was an autoworker, my mom was a clerk. Until I was thirty-five, I never made more than fifteen thousand dollars a year. Michael Moore
If you believe in equality, if you believe in standing up for the rights of all, especially for people most affected by bigotry and discrimination, then you have no choice but to be present and accounted for when it comes to standing up for gays and lesbians in our society. Michael Moore
I take much of the attacks and the criticism toward me as being very class-based, but as Americans we don’t like to acknowledge that reality. Michael Moore
I made ‘Bowling for Columbine’ in the hope the school shootings would stop and that we would address the issue of how easy it is to get a gun in the United States, and tragically, those school shootings continue. Michael Moore
We have to see that we’re a part of each other, and we have to take care of each other. The reason why they have universal health care in Canada and Britain, these other places? Because they believe if one suffers, everybody suffers. Michael Moore
Every parent wants to do what’s best for their child. Whatever I can afford, I’m going to get my kid the best education I can get. Michael Moore
I ask all Americans with a conscience to shun anything and everything to do with the murderous state of Georgia. Michael Moore
Part of my job is to read the paper, watch C-Span and show things that haven’t been shown or were buried. Michael Moore
Clinton was a pretty good president for a Republican. Michael Moore
When I make a film, I’m not doing it purely for political reasons. If I just wanted to do that, I’d run for office. Michael Moore
Under Reagan came the idea of putting your pension plan in the stock market, which wasn’t a guaranteed pension. Michael Moore
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. Michael Moore
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. Michael Moore
There’s politics in all aspects of our daily lives. Michael Moore
There’s over a billion people on this planet that don’t have access to clean drinking water. Michael Moore
I’m not a pundit. I’m not an analyst. I don’t want to participate in the existing debate that’s going on about whether or not you should be able to have as many guns as you want to have or that guns are even the problem. Michael Moore
If there ever is a struggle, making a good movie will always supersede the need to be noble. Michael Moore
I’m caught up probably just as much in the consumer culture as the next person. Michael Moore
A newspaper is a public trust, and we will suffer as a society without them. It is not the Internet that has killed them. It is their own greed, it is their own stupidity, and it is capitalism that has taken our daily newspapers from us. Michael Moore
If anything, I don’t have to convince the American public that we have a broken health-care system. I think the majority of Americans since they have to go through that health-care system, already know it. Michael Moore
Bush’s presidency is revisionism-proof. We’re going to be recovering from it for the rest of our lives. Michael Moore
The American media wants to pump you full of fear. Michael Moore
I had a newspaper in Flint, Michigan called the ‘Flint Voice,’ and so it was a, you know, underground, alternative newspaper that I edited and put out for about ten years. Michael Moore
The wealthy have never liked to pay for the labor that enriches them. Ever since slavery was eliminated, they have been trying to keep it as close to slavery as they can without violating the slave laws. Michael Moore
Every night I watch the nightly news. It’s funded by the pharmaceutical companies. Virtually every ad is a drug ad. They get their say every night on the nightly news through advertising. Michael Moore
If you’re white, and you really want to help change things, why not start with yourself? Michael Moore
I’m tired of this discussion of capitalism and socialism; we live in the 21st century, we need an economic system that has democracy as its underpinnings and an ethical code. Michael Moore
White people scare the crap out of me. Michael Moore
I say stupid white men are always the problem. That’s never going to change. Michael Moore
Because I have an opinion, I have become public enemy number one to the Fox News Channel and the right wing. Michael Moore
The entire business world has figured out how to make huge buckets of money without hiring us to work for them. Michael Moore
I think that there’s something in the American psyche, it’s almost this kind of right or privilege, this sense of entitlement, to resolve our conflicts with violence. There’s an arrogance to that concept if you think about it. To actually have to sit down and talk, to listen, to compromise, that’s hard work. Michael Moore
We live in a time when fictitious election results elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Michael Moore
Wall Street, the banks, and corporate America, has been able to call the shots here. They control our members of Congress and they get what they want. Michael Moore
The purpose of art actually is, in many cases, to make you feel quite uncomfortable. Or at least to go to that place that’s already of discomfort inside of you and tap into that. Michael Moore
The idea that cinema can be dangerous is a great idea. Michael Moore
Capitalism is an organized system to guarantee that greed becomes the primary force of our economic system and allows the few at the top to get very wealthy and has the rest of us riding around thinking we can be that way, too – if we just work hard enough, sell enough Tupperware and Amway products, we can get a pink Cadillac. Michael Moore
I’m a highly flawed individual, as we all are, and because I was raised by Jesuits, I’m constantly, ‘What is it about me and what I can do to be better?’ Michael Moore
The movie theater is never going away. If that was a case why are there still restaurants? People still have kitchens in their home! Michael Moore
Capitalism is against the things that we say we believe in – democracy, freedom of choice, fairness. It’s not about any of those things now. It’s about protecting the wealthy and legalizing greed. Michael Moore
And realising that humour is the most powerful way to make a political statement and say the things that you want to say. And it’s not used enough, at least not in the U.S. Michael Moore
Nobody was talking about healthcare until ‘Sicko’ came out. Michael Moore
I personally hold Blair more responsible for this war than I do George Bush. The reason is, Blair knows better, Blair is not an idiot. What is he doing hanging around this guy? Michael Moore
We should be licensing everybody with a gun. I have to have a license for my dog. I have to have a license for my car. If you’re going to do my hair later you have to have a license… We don’t require a license to own a firearm? Michael Moore
I and you and everyone else has to be a political activist. Michael Moore
We reward people for making money off money, and moving money around and dividing up mortgages a thousand times over, selling it to China… and it becomes this shell game. Michael Moore
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
I think the NRA, they got it half-right when they say, ‘Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.’ I change it to, ‘Guns don’t kill people, Americans kill people.’ Michael Moore
This is the crux of the problem: because the Republicans and the right wing have been successful in almost eliminating unions, everyone else has suffered as a result. Michael Moore
I mean if politics was my main motivation I would be doing politics. But I’m a filmmaker. Michael Moore
I like America to some extent. Michael Moore
There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word ‘homosexual.’ Michael Moore
I drive an American car. It’s a Chrysler. That’s not an endorsement. It’s more like a cry for pity. Michael Moore
North Korea has taught a great lesson to all the countries in the world, especially the rogue countries of dictatorships or whatever: if you don’t want to be invaded by America, get some nuclear weapons. Michael Moore