David Mamet Quotes
Top 100 wise famous quotes and sayings by David Mamet
David Mamet Famous Quotes & Sayings
Discover top inspirational quotes from David Mamet on Wise Famous Quotes.
It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.
Movies were never an art form, they were entertainment. It just evolved into an art form from there, and it's still evolving in different ways.
Blasphemy and prayer are one. Both assert the existence of a superior power. The first, however, with conviction.
It's hard to write a good play because it's hard to structure a plot. If you can think of it off the top of your head, so can the audience.
I've always been more comfortable sinking while clutching a good theory than swimming with an ugly fact.
We're all put to the test ... but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?
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.
Being a writer in Hollywood is like going to Hitler's Eagle Nest with a great idea for a bar mitzvah.
It's called a confidence game. Why? Because you give me your confidence? No. Because I give you mine.
A liberal pretending to be a conservative? That's like a straight person pretending to be gay to get greater acceptance.
The terror and beauty of the dream come from the connection of previously unrelated mundanities of life.
I love working on a typewriter - the rhythm, the sound; it's like playing the piano, which I do, too.
People may or may not say what they mean ... but they always say something designed to get what they want.
The mind is a mill which can incessant turn, 'til its mere operation focus the stress inward and the stones grind themselves to dust.
Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.
The liberals in my neighbourhood wouldn't give away Brentwood to the Palestinians, but they want to give away Tel Aviv.
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.
Today, as in ancient Rome, when all avenues of success have been traveled and all prizes won, the final prize is the delusion of godhead.
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.
Life in the movie business is like the beginning of a new love affair: it's full of surprises, and you're constantly getting fucked.
It is the writer's job to make the play interesting. It is the actor's job to make the performance truthful.
I'm afraid of only two things: being lazy and being cowardly. I get up early in the morning and go to work. I love to write.
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.
Every scene should be able to answer three questions: Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?
Where in the wide history of the world do we find art created by the excessively wealthy, powerful, or educated?
Encounter: Doubt, Shame, Humiliation. It will finally be worth it. Acting is more about courage than anything else.
IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.
The purpose of technique is to free the unconscious. If you follow the rules ploddingly, they will allow your unconscious to be free.
You know, young actors say all the time, 'Should I use my own life experience?' And my response is, 'What choice do you have?'
The first amendment ensures not that speech will be fair, but that it will be free. It cannot be both.
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.