David Mamet Quotes - Page 5

Quotes about:

• The avant-garde is to the left what jingoism is to the right. Both are a refuge in nonsense.

  David Mamet

  Jingoism, Avant Garde, Nonsense

  David Mamet (2013). “Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama”, p.61, Vintage

  11 Copy quote

• I love Superman. I'm a big fan of anyone who can make his living in his underwear.

  David Mamet

  Fans, Underwear, Bigs

  8 Copy quote

• If you're writing an opinion piece, it's your job to write your opinion. If, on the other hand, you wrote a novel, as Virginia Woolf tells us, it would be inappropriate if you let your novel be influenced by your political opinions.

  David Mamet

  Jobs, Writing, Political Opinions

  5 Copy quote

• My alma mater is the Chicago Public Library.

  David Mamet

  Library, Chicago, Alma Mater

  19 Copy quote

• Do not internalize the industrial model. You are not one of the myriad interchangeable pieces, but a unique human being, and if you've got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better.

  David Mamet

  Thinking, Unique, Pieces

  David Mamet (2011). “True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor”, p.51, Vintage

  6 Copy quote

• At the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre, Sanford Meisner said, 'When you go into the professional world, at a stock theatre somewhere, backstage, you will meet an older actor, someone who has been around awhile. He will tell you tales and anecdotes, about life in the theatre. He will speak to you about your performance and the performances of others, and he will generalize to you, based on his experience and his intuitions, about the laws of the stage. Ignore this man!'

  David Mamet

  School, Men, Law

  8 Copy quote

• Any time two characters are talking about a third, the scene is a crock of s***.

  David Mamet

  Writing, Character, Talking

  4 Copy quote

• Conservatives believe in smaller government and in the power of the electorate. So I think that we're less likely to try to use a dramatic forum to warp people's political views.

  David Mamet

  Believe, Thinking, Government

  "David Mamet: Hollywood Conservatives "Legitimately Frightened For Their Jobs"". Interview with Megyn Kelly, www.realclearpolitics.com. November 11, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

• Invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school.

  David Mamet

  School, Speak, Deny

  6 Copy quote

• Acting is not a genteel profession. Actors used to be buried at a crossroads with a stake through the heart. Those people's performances so troubled the onlookers that they feared their ghosts. An awesome compliment. Those players moved the audience not such that they were admitted to a school, or received a complimentary review, but such that the audience feared for their soul. Now that seems to me something to aim for.

  David Mamet

  School, Heart, Player

  8 Copy quote

• I'm afraid of only two things: being lazy and being cowardly.

  David Mamet

  Two, Lazy, Cowardly Acts

  "Mamet Talk" by Lillian Ross, www.newyorker.com. May 19, 2008.

  9 Copy quote

• What I value most in my friends is loyalty.

  David Mamet

  Loyalty, My Friends, Values

  11 Copy quote

• When we fear things I think that we wish for them ... every fear hides a wish

  David Mamet

  Fear, Thinking, Wish

  David Mamet (2015). “Mamet Plays: 2: Reunion; Dark Pony; A Life in the Theatre; The Woods; Lakeboat; Edmond”, p.286, Bloomsbury Publishing

  8 Copy quote

• Everyone needs money. That's why they call it money

  David Mamet

  Needs, Heist, Need Money

  7 Copy quote

• You can't write about history without writing about politics at some point. History is about movements of people. 'What is criminality and what is government' is a theme that runs through every history.

  David Mamet

  Running, Writing, Government

  "TheDC Interviews: David Mamet talks War". Interview with Patrick Howley, dailycaller.com. December 27, 2013.

  7 Copy quote

• If You can't tell it to me in one sentence, they can't put it in TV Guide.

  David Mamet

  Tvs, Guides, One Sentence

  David Mamet (1988). “Speed-the-plow”, Methuen Publishing

  7 Copy quote

• If you find that a point cannot be made without narration, it is virtually certain that the point is unimportant to the story (which is to say, to the audience).

  David Mamet

  Stories, Made, Certain

  David Mamet (1991). “On Directing Film”, Penguin Group USA

  6 Copy quote

• I tend to write a lot, which I think is the secret to being prolific.

  David Mamet

  Writing, Thinking, Secret

  7 Copy quote

• The mind is a mill which can incessant turn, 'til its mere operation focus the stress inward and the stones grind themselves to dust.

  David Mamet

  Stress, Dust, Focus

  David Mamet (2009). “Faustus”, p.16, Vintage

  7 Copy quote

• There is a profound and ineradicable taint of antisemitism in the British.

  David Mamet

  Profound, British

  4 Copy quote

• My alma mater is the Chicago Public Library. I got what little educational foundation I got in the third-floor reading room, under the tutelage of a Coca-Cola sign.

  David Mamet

  Educational, Reading, Library

  4 Copy quote

• The quality I most admire in a man is steadfastness.

  David Mamet

  Men, Quality, Admire

  10 Copy quote

• "Based on a true story" is a come-on, the aesthetic equivalent of "no loan request refused." For, at best, the creator has fashioned a film based on his understanding of, interpretation of, and reduction of the report of an actual occurrence.

  David Mamet

  Understanding, Stories, Film

  David Mamet (2008). “Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business”, p.154, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

• My tendency as an actor was to correct people, was to say, 'What if we tried it this way, what about if we tried that way?' That's terrible habit for an actor, but that's a good habit for director. So I became a director.

  David Mamet

  People, What If, Way

  "David Mamet's Conservative Conversion". "Hannity" with Sean Hannity, www.foxnews.com. July 08, 2011.

  5 Copy quote

• Storytelling is like sex. We all do it naturally. Some of us are better at it than others.

  David Mamet

  Sex, Storytelling

  David Mamet (2008). “Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business”, p.88, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

Page 5 of 10

First

← Prev

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin