David Mamet Quotes

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 those citizens or groups who question that status.

The audience requires not information but drama.

The individual is not only best qualified to provide his own personal defense, he is the only one qualified to do so: and his right to do so is guaranteed by the Constitution.

The liberals in my neighbourhood wouldn't give away Brentwood to the Palestinians, but they want to give away Tel Aviv.

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 being uncomfortable.

Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.

When we leave the play saying how spectacular the sets or costumes were, or how interesting the ideas, it means we had a bad time.

Get into the scene late; get out of the scene early.

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

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.

I hate the computer. I hate their spell-check. I won't ever do e-mail.

I know very well what it is to be out of work and to be cheated by employers and I know what it is to be an employer.

In a world we find terrifying, we ratify that which doesn't threaten us.

In Chicago, we love our crooks!

It's only words... unless they're true.

Welcome to Chicago. This town stinks like a whorehouse at low tide.

Everybody makes their own fun. If you don't make it yourself, it isn't fun. It's entertainment.

The true writer must write not the acceptable but the true.

The conscious mind is going to suggest the obvious, the cliché, because these things have offered the security of having succeeded in the past.

Before you can steal fire from the Gods you gotta be able to get coffee for the director.

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

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

The purpose of technique is to free the unconscious. If you follow the rules ploddingly, they will allow your unconscious to be free.

We respond to a drama to that extent to which it corresponds to our dream life.

The surprise is half the battle. Many things are half the battle, losing is half the battle. Let's think about what's the whole battle.

Don't assume I'm dumb because I wear a suit and tie.

The dream and the film are the juxtaposition of images in order to answer a question.

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

It's upsetting to be a man in our society.

I grew up in a tough neighborhood and we used to say you can get further with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word.

As you all know first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired.

President Obama seems to understand the Constitution as a 'set of suggestions.'

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

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

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

You got an all-out prize fight, you wait 'til the fight's over, one guy's left standing and that's how you know who's won.

It is the objective of the protagonist that keeps us in our seats.

I don't have any experience with film schools. I suspect that they're useless, because I've had experience with drama schools, and have found them to be useless.

My idea of perfect happiness is a healthy family, peace between nations, and all the critics die.

In my family, in the days prior to television, we liked to while away the evenings by making ourselves miserable, solely based on our ability to speak the language viciously.

A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team.

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).

My greatest fear is that the audience will beat me to the punch line.

My dad was a labour lawyer, and the ideas that I grew up with - bad management, bad capitalism, robber barons - when I applied this to my own life, I saw that we are all on both sides of the coin.

Worry is interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes due.

I hate vacations. There's nothing to do.

As long as the protagonist wants something, the audience will want something.

No one enjoys being equal.

There is no such thing as character other than the habitual action, as Mr. Aristotle told us two thousand years ago.

Show business is and has always been a depraved carnival.