David Mamet Quotes

151 quotes in 1843 categories

• When we fear things I think that we wish for them ... every fear hides a wish
• Fun is what you do for yourself. If somebody else does it, it's entertainment.
• Policemen so cherish their status as keepers of the peace and protectors of the public that they have occasionally been known to beat to death…
• Any claim to actual identification as a drama must rest upon the construction of a plot independent of the assignment of affliction to the protagonist.
• We recipients of the boon of liberty have always been ready, when faced with discomfort, to discard any and all first principles of liberty, and,…
• The Oscars demonstrate the will of the people to control and judge those they have elected to stand above them (much, perhaps, as in bygone…
• Society functions in a way much more interesting than the multiple-choice pattern we have been rewarded for succeeding at in school. Success in life comes…
• The audience will teach you how to act and the audience will teach you how to write and to direct. The classroom will teach you…
• The study of acting consists in the main of getting out of one’s own way, and in learning to deal with uncertainty and being comfortable…
• Where in the wide history of the world do we find art created by the excessively wealthy, powerful, or educated?
• It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.
• The correct unit of study is not the play; it is the scene.
• Luck, if there is such a thing, is either going to favor everyone equally or going to exhibit a preference for the prepared.
• Everyone needs money. That's why they call it money
• Worry is interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes due....
• I always thought the real violence in Hollywood isn't what's on the screen. It's what you have to do to raise the money.
• There's no such thing as talent; you just have to work hard enough.
• I'm not the guy to ask about politics. I'm a gag writer.
• IFÂ YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITEÂ AÂ SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILLÂ BEÂ WRITING GREAT DRAMA.
• We cannot live without trade. A society can neither advance nor improve without excess of disposable income. This excess can only be amassed through the…

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