100 Stan Lee Quotes About Courage, Optimism and Success

Words of wisdom from one of the most beloved creative minds in modern history. 'Nuff said.

From the imagination of a kid from the Bronx with a passion for storytelling sprung one of the most lucrative and internationally popular media franchises in history. We've rounded up the most memorable quotes of Marvel Comics creative leader Stan Lee, known to legions of fans for his wit, genial good nature and, crucially, his boundless creativity.

Here are 100 unforgettable Stan Lee quotes about bravery, humility and the value of hard work.

Stan Lee Quotes

1.  "I've been the luckiest man in the world because I've had friends, and to have the right friends is everything: people you can depend on, people who tell you the truth if you ask something."

2. “Face front, true believers!”

3. “If you are interested in what you do, that keeps you going.”

4. "I have always included minority characters in my stories, often as heroes. We live in a diverse society—in fact, a diverse world, and we must learn to live in peace and with respect for each other."

5. "If I'm half as good as everybody said I am, I'm far too good to be wasting time with ordinary people. But I seem to be spending my life with ordinary people, who are the best people in the world."

6. "For years, kids have been asking me what's the greatest superpower. I always say luck. If you're lucky, everything works. I've been lucky."

7. "I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it, they might go off the deep end. "

8. "All I thought about when I wrote my stories was, 'I hope that these comic books would sell so I can keep my job and continue to pay the rent.' Never in a million years could I have imagined that it would turn into what it has evolved into nowadays."

9. "I don't have inspiration. I only have ideas. Ideas and deadlines."

10. "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

11.“ The only advice anybody can give is if you want to be a writer, keep writing. And read all you can, read everything.”

12. "HULK SMASH!"

13. "Coming from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!”

14. "The power of prayer is still the greatest ever known in this endless eternal universe."

15.“The world has always been a comic book world to me.”

16. "For men must never feel a cause is hopeless–men must never feel an enemy cannot be beaten!”

17. “Let's lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. But, unlike a team of costumed super-villains, they can’t be halted with a punch in the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them is to expose them—to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are.”

18.“To me, writing is fun. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing, as long as you can tell a story.”

19. "You know, I guess one person can make a difference.."

20. "The pleasure of reading a story and wondering what will come next for the hero is a pleasure that has lasted for centuries and, I think, will always be with us."

21. "America is made of different races and different religions, but we're all co-travelers on the spaceship Earth and must respect and help each other along the way."

22. “I’m happiest when I’m working. If I’m not working, I feel like I’m wasting my time.”

23. “Reading is very good.”

24. "Just because you have superpowers, that doesn't mean your love life would be perfect. I don't think superpowers automatically means there won't be any personality problems, family problems or even money problems. I just tried to write characters who are human beings who also have superpowers."

25. “I see myself in everything I write. All the good guys are me.”

26. "Wolverine is one of the best characters ever created in fiction. I blew it by not coming up with the idea first."

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27. “Life is never completely without challenges.”

28. “I never thought that Spider-Man would become the worldwide icon that he is. I just hoped the books would sell and I’d keep my job.”

29. "Howard the Duck...should have been good, but every mistake in the book was made with that movie, and it didn't work. I didn't want to butt-in..."

30.“And now, until we meet again, may the blessings of Asgard be showered upon you!”

31. "Comic books to me are fairy tales for grown-ups."

32. “Luck's a revolving door, you just need to know when it's your time to walk through.”

33. "Nevermore shall men make slaves of others! Not in Asgard--not on Earth–not any place where the hammer of Thor can be swung–or where men of good faith hold freedom dear!”

34. "Another definition of a hero is someone who is concerned about other people’s well-being and will go out of his or her way to help them–even if there is no chance of a reward. That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.”

35. “There’s never a time when I’m not working. I don’t take vacations.”

36. “Being a geek has become a badge of honor.”

37. "In the beginning Marvel created the Bullpen and the Style. And the Bullpen was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the Artists. And the Spirit of Marvel said, Let there be The Fantastic Four. And there was The Fantastic Four. And Marvel saw The Fantastic Four. And it was good."

38. "I think people have always loved things that are bigger than life, things that are imaginative."

39.“It’s a lot of work, but if you really have it in you, it’s not like work. It becomes fun.”

40. "Some people will say, 'Why read a comic book? It stifles the imagination. If you read a novel you imagine what people are like. If you read a comic, it's showing you.' The only answer I can give is, 'You can read a Shakespeare play, but does that mean you wouldn't want to see it on the stage?'"

41. “I wanted them to be diverse. The whole underlying principle of the X-Men was to try to be an anti-bigotry story to show there’s good in every person.”

42. "If you're writing about a character, if he's a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don't think he'll be as interesting to the reader."

43. "With great power comes great responsibility."

44. “We all wish we had superpowers. We all wish we could do more than we can do.”

45. "Every day, there’s a new development. there;’s no limit to the things that are happening.”

46. "There must always be those with the fire of rebellion in their blood! There must always be those who will dare to fight an unbeatable enemy! Only thus can the race of man remain strong and fearless!”

47. “When you work with people whom you like and you admire because they’re so good at what they do, it doesn’t feel like work. It’s like you’re playing.”

48. “To my way of thinking, whether it’s a superhero movie or a romance or a comedy or whatever, the most important thing is you’ve got to care about the characters. You’ve got to understand the characters and you’ve got to be interested. If the characters are interesting, you’re half-way home.“

49. "'Good' and 'Bad' may be alien concepts to him, Ben.”

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50. “It’s got to come from inside of you.”

51.“Of what import are brief, nameless lives...to Galactus?”

52. “I guess one person can make a difference.”

53. "Fans are almost always nice. I really find that they rarely come on too strong."

54. "I like Silver Surfer because he's the most philosophical, always philosophizing about the human race and the human condition and why people are the way they are, why they don't appreciate this wonderful planet they live on...he has a nice moral tone."

55. "I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed. Beyond the meaning (of a work of art), it is important to people. Without it, lives can be dull."

56. "If you're writing about a character, if he's a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don't think he'll be as interesting to the reader."

57 ."Wherever we find news, excitement, mystery and adventure, there, too, we find the newspaper reporter. Always on the alert for something new, ready to risk his very life for a scoop and finding adventure in every corner of the globe."

58. "When you can sit down with a plain sheet of paper in front of you and make some notes, and, little by little, you see it take shape and become a concept for a movie or a TV show. That's a real thrill. You watch it go from notes on a paper to a meeting with writers and directors and actors. I can't think of anything that's more exciting."

59. “I said, 'Juvenile delinquents eat chocolate cake, so chocolate cake must cause juvenile delinquency,' but nobody listened to me. I wasn’t on TV.”

60. "To tell you the truth, I never thought of myself as much of a success."

61. "I had a publisher who felt comics were just for little kiddies, so he never wanted me to use words of more than two syllables."

62. "What did Doctor Doom really want? He wanted to rule the world. Now, think about this. You could walk across the street against a traffic light and get a summons for jaywalking, but you could walk up to a police officer and say 'I want to rule the world,' and there's nothing he can do about it, that is not a crime. Anybody can want to rule the world. So, even though he was the Fantastic Four's greatest menace, in my mind, he was never a criminal!"

63. "While no one is expected to leap tall buildings in a single bound, our aspiring heroes will be tested on their courage, integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion and resourcefulness–the stuff of all true superheroes."

64. "If Shakespeare and Michelangelo were alive today, and if they decided to collaborate on a comic, Shakespeare would write the script and Michelangelo would draw it. How could anybody say that this wouldn't be as worthwhile an artform as anything on earth?"

65. "What the hell could you do? I've never been arrested, I haven't taken drugs, I've had the same wife for 54 years...where's anything of interest to people?"

66. "If you wanna be an artist, carry sketch pad with you, and sketch everything you see. Get so you can draw anything and it looks like what it's supposed to be."

67. "Technology isn't a villain. Technology should help, but if you just use the technology for the sake of technology, then you're cheating your audience. You're not giving them the best story and the best direction and so forth."

68. "Excelsior!"

69. "I'm very proud of being a hack. It's why I've lived as long as I have, I think."

70. "Singing a song, playing sports–anything that entertains, that takes people away from their own problems, is good."

71. "Superheroes in New York, give me a break!"

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72. "Achilles, without his heel, you wouldn't even know his name today."

73. "The cliché I tried to avoid was I hated "teenage sidekicks." I always figured if I were a superhero, there's no way on God's earth that I'm gonna pal around with some teenager. So my publisher insisted I have a teenager in the series, because they always felt teenagers won't read the books unless there's a teenager in the story; which is nonsense."

74. “It’s fun doing something that hasn’t been done before.”

75. “I don’t analyze things too closely. I find the more you analyze, the more you get away from spontaneity.”

76. "I have never had a lap dance in Tampa or any other part of Florida. If I ever did have a lap dance, I don't think I would be discussing television ideas with the girl that was giving it to me."

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77. "I like all the comics conventions: The smaller ones are easier, the bigger ones are exciting...Each one I say: Never again. But they're all great...These things are important because they keep the fans' interest alive in comics. They keep the fans reading and their imaginations stimulated."

78. "Your humans slaughter each other because of the color of your skin, or your faith or your politics–or for no reason at all–too many of you hate as easily as you draw breath." (said by Magneto in The Uncanny X-Men)

79. "I have a reputation for doing superheroes, but I like all kinds of writing. In fact, hardly anybody knows this, but I've probably written as many humor stories as superhero stories."

80. "The 'problem' is that Comic-Con is so damned successful. People who are there seem to have a wonderful time. The very size of it makes it exciting. Wherever you look, there's something exciting. The attendees are always looking around for a familiar face. It's either 'There's a movie star!' Or, 'There's a TV star!' Or, 'There's the guy who drew the Green Lantern!' It means so much to the fans. It makes them feel like they're where it's happening. It's like Woodstock."

 81. "Comics are stories; they’re like novels or anything else. So the first thing you have to do is become a good storyteller.”

82. "I had been writing comic books for years and I was doing them to please a publisher, who felt that comics are only read by very young children or stupid adults. And therefore, we have to keep the stories very simplistic. And that was the thing I hated."

83. "I'm sort of a pressure writer. If somebody says, 'Stan, write something,' and I have to have it by tomorrow morning, I'll just sit down and I'll write it. It always seems to come to me. But I'm better doing a rushed job because if it isn't something that's due quickly, I won't work on it until it becomes almost an emergency and then I'll do it."

84. "Comic books would probably be the last thing on the list of what we'll do at this point. But wherever a comic book is warranted, we're more than capable of doing them."

85. "No matter how good a story is, if you're at a newsstand and you see a lot of comic books, you don't know how good the story is unless you read it. But you can spot the artwork instantly, and you know whether you like the artwork, whether it grabs you or not."

86. "I never understood why people take drugs. They're habit forming and they can kill you. I didn't need anything to pep me up or make me feel more creative, and I didn't need them to help me with women."

87. "I always thought it was more interesting to think about Reed Richards. As you know, he had the ability to stretch, and sexually, that would seem to be a great asset in many areas."

88. "I'll probably be the next Donald Trump. Instead of saying, 'You're fired,' I'll have to come up with another line. Maybe, 'Take off your costume!' I'll be the ultimate judge. It's a great responsibility, and I take it very seriously. It's a great weight on my shoulders and I just hope that I will be up to this test. Because the eyes of the world will be upon us."

89. "I like Spider-Man because he's become the most famous. He's the one who's most like me–nothing ever turns out 100 percent OK; he's got a lot of problems, and he does things wrong, and I can relate to that."

90. "My theory about why people like superheroes is that when we were kids, we all loved to read fairy tales. Fairy tales are all about things bigger than life: giants, witches, trolls, dinosaurs and dragons and all sorts of imaginative things. Then you get a little bit older and you stop reading fairy tales, but you don't ever outgrow your love of them."

91. "So I'm happiest when I'm working with artists and writers, and involved in stories, whether we're talking about animation or movies or comics or television."

92. “I don’t really see a need to retire as long as I am having fun.”

93. "My biggest regret is that I don't really have time to read."

94. "Nuff said."

95. "The thing to me that's fun is trying to make the characters seem believable, or realistic. And it's especially challenging when you're doing fantasy stories, when you're doing superhero types of things."

96. "Comic books sort of follow with the movie–if people see the movie and if they're interested in the character and want to see more of the character, they start buying the comic books. So a good movie helps the sale of the comic books and the comic books help the movie and one hand washes the other. So, I don't think there's any reason to think that comics will die out."

97. "We're living in a world where everything moves very quickly. We've become a very visual society, so I think it's a very natural thing that people are captivated with the illustrations in a story."

98. "You have to be appreciative."

99. "I love Marvel and the people there. I'm glad I'm still part of it.”

100."Every day is a new adventure."

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