These Stan Lee quotes will inspire the best version of you.
When I think of comic books, I think of Stan Lee. When I think of superheroes, I think of Stan Lee. His first superhero to save the world was Captain America. He worked at Marvel Comics for over two decades but frequently made cameo appearances in their films.
What I didn’t realize was that Stan Lee had an extensive background in writing and publishing. He was even in the Army! He also had a lot of wisdom to share with writers and readers alike.
These 50 Stan Lee quotes are some of his thoughts on comic books, superheroes, life, and writing.
We also have a collection of Martin Scorsese quotes as well as these superhero quotes to serve you up with motivation to fly high! Be sure to also read that.
Stan Lee quotes on comic books and fairy tales
1.) “Comic books to me are fairy tales for grown-ups.” – Stan Lee
2.) “Comics are stories; they’re like novels or anything else. So the first thing you have to do is become a good storyteller.” – Stan Lee
3.) “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?” – Stan Lee
4.) “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?” – Stan Lee
5.) “There’s just something that feels nice about holding a comic book!” – Stan Lee
6.) “Marvel is a cornucopia of fantasy, a wild idea, a swashbuckling attitude, an escape from the humdrum and prosaic. It’s a serendipitous feast for the mind, the eye, and the imagination, a literate celebration of unbridled creativity, coupled with a touch of rebellion and an insolent desire to spit in the eye of the dragon.” – Stan Lee
7.) “I think almost everybody enjoyed fairy tales when they were young, tales of witches and ogres and monsters and dragons and so forth. You get a little bit older, you can’t read fairy tales anymore.” – Stan Lee
8.) “Virtually, every kid is exposed to giants and ogres and talking wolves, and so forth. And magic. And I think you never outgrow your love for those imaginative, fanciful, far fetched, fantastic characters and situations.” – Stan Lee
9.) “I don’t think you ever outgrow your love for things that are bigger than life and more colorful than the average life. And somehow I feel that these comic book stories are like fairy tales for older people, because they have the same qualities.” – Stan Lee
10.) “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.” – Stan Lee
Memorable Stan Lee quotes
11.) “Reading is very good. And you can quote me!” – Stan Lee
12.) “Life is never completely without its challenges.” – Stan Lee
13.) “If you are interested in what you do, that keeps you going!” – Stan Lee
14.) “It’s just, it’s fun to stay in the game.” – Stan Lee
15.) “With great power comes great responsibility.” – Stan Lee
16.) “I’m very proud of being a hack. It’s why I’ve lived as long as I have, I think.” – Stan Lee
17.) “The world has always been like a comic book world to me!” – Stan Lee
18.) “I see myself in everything I write. All the good guys are me.” – Stan Lee
19.) “To tell you the truth, I never thought of myself as much of a success.” – Stan Lee
Also read our selection of insightful Quentin Tarantino quotes about film-making, writing, and more.
Stan Lee quotes on superheroes and superpowers
20.) “We all wish we had superpowers. We all wish we could do more than we can do.” – Stan Lee
21.) “When I was a kid, I loved reading Sherlock Holmes. Now, you don’t think of him as a superhero, but he was so damn much smarter than anybody else.” – Stan Lee
22.) “Just because you have superpowers, that doesn’t mean your love life would be perfect. I don’t think superpowers automatically mean 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.” – Stan Lee
23.) “These stories of people with unusual powers and unusual appearances, who do unusual things, people are always fascinated by them.” – Stan Lee
24.) “If I got a superpower I wouldn’t say, oh, I got to get a costume and put on a mask. I would say hey, I can do something better than other people. How can I turn it into a buck?” – Stan Lee
25.) “I thought it would be great to do superheroes that have the same kind of life problems that any reader – that anybody could have.” – Stan Lee
26.) “I think superheroes are bigger than life and they’re very colorful.” – Stan Lee
27.) “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.” – Stan Lee
Stan Lee quotes on writing
28.) “I don’t wake up in the morning and say, wow I’ve got a great idea for a story. But I sit down, and I figure well, let’s see.” – Stan Lee
29.) “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.” – Stan Lee
30.) “I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him.” – Stan Lee
31.) “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.” – Stan Lee
32.) “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.” – Stan Lee
33.) “No matter what you write, it’s a matter of putting words in a certain order so that the reader will be interested in what you’re writing.” – Stan Lee
34.) “To me, writing is fun. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing, as long as you can tell a story.” – Stan Lee
35.) “I enjoyed reading Batman, and Superman, and all the super ones, but I never wished I created them. I’ve got to let there be some work for other people!” – Stan Lee
36.) “The only advice anybody can give is, if you wanna be a writer, keep writing. And read all you can, read everything.” – Stan Lee
Inspirational Stan Lee quotes about success and life
37.) “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. Never.” – Stan Lee
38.) “I’m happiest when I’m working. If I’m not working, I feel like I’m wasting my time.” – Stan Lee
39.) “No one has a perfect life. Everybody has something that he wishes was not the way it is.” – Stan Lee
40.) “If there are people who like the work you’ve done, because of that, they like you and want your autograph and to take a photo, that’s really gratifying. You have to be appreciative.” – Stan Lee
41.) “I don’t know where the hell I’ll be in 5 years. Maybe I’ll be producing movies maybe I’ll be on a corner selling apples. I don’t know, but I’m having a hell of a lot of fun.” – Stan Lee
42.) “Negative information is that which, immediately upon acquiring, causes the recipient to know less than he did before.” – Stan Lee
43.) “If you enjoy what you do, if you are interested in what you do, I really think that’s the best situation.” – Stan Lee
44.) “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. It’s a lot of work, but if you really have it in you, it’s not like work. It becomes fun.” – Stan Lee
45.) “Luck is one of the most important things in the world and really has a role to play in everything, and in marriage, I’ve been lucky enough to be married to the same girl for all these years.” – Stan Lee
46.) “Singing a song, playing sports – anything that entertains, that takes people away from their own problems, is good.” – Stan Lee
47.) “I don’t analyse things too closely. I find the more you analyse, the more you get away from spontaneity.” – Stan Lee
48.) “I’ve been very lucky. All I wanted was to pay the rent. Then these characters took off and suddenly there were Hulk coffee mugs and Iron Man lunch boxes and The Avengers sweatshirts everywhere. Money’s okay, but what I really like is working.” – Stan Lee
49.) “There’s never a time when I’m not working. I don’t take vacations.” – Stan Lee
50.) “Most people say, “I can’t wait to retire so I can play golf,” or go yachting or whatever they do. Well, if I was playing golf, I would want that to finish so I could go and dream up a new TV show.” – Stan Lee
Which of these Stan Lee quotes resonated with you best?
The fact that this man was once so embarrassed to write comics, that he used a pen name, is mind blowing. He would later change his pen name of “Stan Lee” to his legal name.
The humbleness of Stan Lee can be heard in his quotes and witnessed in some of his greatest characters. I can’t imagine what a world without Spiderman and Stan Lee would look like, and I’m glad I don’t have to!
What I do think I will do is have that date night, consisting of binge watching the Marvel Universe movies, my husband and I have been talking about. I’ll pay special attention to look for the Stan Lee cameos!
Which of these Stan Lee quotes resonated with you best? Do you have any other favorite quotes to add? Let us know in the comment section below.
