Quote

Don't write stage directions. If it is not apparent what the character is trying to accomplish by saying the line, tell us how the character said it or whether or not she moved to the couch isn't going to aid the case.

David Mamet

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David Mamet
Age: 76
Born: 1947
Born: November 30
Actor
Author
Film Director
Film Producer
Novelist
Playwright
Poet
Screenwriter
Television Producer
Theatrical Director
Writer
Chicago
Illinois
David Alen Mamet
David Alan Mamet
Write
Moved
Tell
Case
Couch
Character
Line
Couches
Writing
Cases
Apparent
Trying
Saying
Directions
Going
Stage
Aids
Lines
Theatre
Whether
Accomplish

More quotes by David Mamet

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Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.
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Make the audience wonder what's going on by putting them in the same position as the protagonist.
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It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.
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War is tragedy. The great war stories are tragedies. It's the failure of diplomacy. 'War and Peace,' 'A Farewell to Arms,' 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Those are some of the greatest tragedies.
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When I started out I was a failed actor.
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It's upsetting to be a man in our society.
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I love Superman. I'm a big fan of anyone who can make his living in his underwear.
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It is the writer’s job to make the play interesting. It is the actor’s job to make the performance truthful.
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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, further, to indict those who do not freely join with us in happily arrogating those principles.
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I'm not the guy to ask about politics. I'm a gag writer.
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The Israelis would like to live in peace within their borders the Arabs would like to kill them all.
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The terror and beauty of the dream come from the connection of previously unrelated mundanities of life.
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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.
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The great movie can be as free of being a record of the progress of the protagonist as is a dream.
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Being among my people is a delight. We Jews live among ourselves. I love it.
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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.
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Fun is what you do for yourself. If somebody else does it, it's entertainment.
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I'm afraid of only two things: being lazy and being cowardly.
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The purpose of technique is to free the unconscious. If you follow the rules ploddingly, they will allow your unconscious to be free.
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Every scene should be able to answer three questions: Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?
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