--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One thing he'd learned in ten years on…" description: "\"“One thing he'd learned in ten years on the New York Stage was this: don't make friends with the man who plays Hamlet; make friends with the man who pa..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58f/thomas-dyja-282914_actors-wisdom_one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-t_1462249.jpg" --- # One thing he'd learned in ten years on the New York Stage… ![“One thing he'd learned in ten years on the New York Stage was this: don't make friends with the man who plays Hamlet; make friends with the man who pays Hamlet.” quote by Thomas Dyja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58f/thomas-dyja-282914_actors-wisdom_one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-t_1462249.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58f/thomas-dyja-282914_actors-wisdom_one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-t_1462249.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58f/thomas-dyja-282914_actors-wisdom_one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-t_1462249.jpg) > ““One thing he'd learned in ten years on the New York Stage was this: don't make friends with the man who plays Hamlet; make friends with the man who pays Hamlet.”” [Thomas Dyja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-dyja/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advice to align with those who fund your work rather than those you admire on stage. **In simple terms:** Choose allies who support you financially. Key Takeaway Seek supportive patrons over mere admiration. Themes friendship career art pragmatism Mood pragmatic reflective skeptical Type Actors-wisdom:1 Friendship:1 Hamlet:0 Ten years:0 Plays Hamlet:0 Friends Man:0 Pays Hamlet:0 Hamlet Make:0 When to use this quote - career decisions - artistic collaborations - financial planning Key Concepts networking power dynamics theatre economics Questions to Reflect On - Do you prioritize financial support over artistic respect? - How can you balance integrity with practicality? A Different Perspective May undervalue artistic integrity for money. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actors-wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actors-wisdom-3432/) [Friends Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friends-man-1807731/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Hamlet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hamlet/) [Hamlet Make](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hamlet-make-5285618/) [Pays Hamlet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pays-hamlet-5285617/) [Plays Hamlet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plays-hamlet-1729950/) [Ten years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ten-years/) ## Related quotes > [A brilliant treatment of the history of Purgatory in England and its survivals and echoes throughout Shakespeare's plays, above all Hamlet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-zaleski/a-brilliant-treatment-of-the-history-of-purgatory-in-england-and-its/) [Carol Zaleski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-zaleski/) > [“You don't always keep on the top", she began again. 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If wife leaves you, loneliness follows you wherever you are!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fahad-basheer/wife-and-loneliness-are-the-best-friends-of-a-man-if-wife-leaves-you/) [Fahad Basheer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fahad-basheer/) > [Women are quite able to make friends with a man; but to preserve such a friendship - that no doubt requires the assistance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/women-are-quite-able-to-make-friends-with-a-man-but-to-preserve-such/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Man buys a phone... man txts his friends... man goes to the phone store and says man: my phone isnt recieving messages I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author-name/man-buys-a-phone-man-txts-his-friends-man-goes-to-the-phone-store-and/) [Author Name](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/author-name/) > [I notice my wife when she's on the phone with her friends, man they will share every animate details of their lives with each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-foxworthy/i-notice-my-wife-when-she-s-on-the-phone-with-her-friends-man-they/) [Jeff Foxworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-foxworthy/) > [“For always remember this friends, that who a man is is always more important to God than what he does.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-w-tozer/for-always-remember-this-friends-that-who-a-man-is-is-always-more/) [A.W. Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-w-tozer/) > [Cannot you tell that? Every fool can tell that. It was the very day that young Hamlet was born, he that is mad and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/cannot-you-tell-that-every-fool-can-tell-that-it-was-the-very-day/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-robinson/shakespeare-s-hamlet-there-is-nothing-either-good-or-bad-but-thinking/) [Ken Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-robinson/) > [“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right!” Thus Hamlet. Yet he concludes: “Nay, come,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-time-is-out-of-joint-o-cursed-spite-that-ever-i-was-born-to-set/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ## More Actors-wisdom quotes > [“All the world's a stage, and most of us are desperately under-rehearsed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-o-casey/all-the-world-s-a-stage-and-most-of-us-are-desperately-under-rehearsed/) [Sean O'Casey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-o-casey/) > [“You don't always keep on the top", she began again. "My life, my career has been like a roller coaster. I've either been an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-edwards/you-don-t-always-keep-on-the-top-she-began-again-my-life-my-career/) [Anne Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-edwards/) [Browse all 3 Actors-wisdom quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actors-wisdom-3432/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“One thing he'd learned in ten years on the New York Stage was this: don't make friends with the man who plays Hamlet; make friends with the man who pays Hamlet.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Dyja" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dyja/one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-the-new-york-stage-was-this/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Actors-wisdom" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dyja/one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-the-new-york-stage-was-this/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58f/thomas-dyja-282914_actors-wisdom_one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-t_1462249.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58f/thomas-dyja-282914_actors-wisdom_one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-t_1462249.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58f/thomas-dyja-282914_actors-wisdom_one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-t_1462249.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“One thing he'd learned in ten years on the New York Stage was this: don't make friends with the man who…” — Thomas Dyja", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Thomas Dyja", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-dyja/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“One thing he'd learned in ten...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dyja/one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-the-new-york-stage-was-this/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dyja/one-thing-he-d-learned-in-ten-years-on-the-new-york-stage-was-this/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```