Quote

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

David Mamet

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

David Mamet
Age: 77
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
Character
Writing
Crock
Time
Third
Thirds
Characters
Scene
Talking
Two

More quotes by David Mamet

Image
I like Bach. I like Randy Newman.
David Mamet
Image
I tend to write a lot, which I think is the secret to being prolific.
David Mamet
Image
I love working on a typewriter - the rhythm, the sound it's like playing the piano, which I do, too.
David Mamet
Image
I don't really have a social life.
David Mamet
Image
One can read all one wants, and spend eternities in front of a blackboard with a tutor, but one is not going to learn to swim until one gets in the water.
David Mamet
Image
The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, 'What does the protagonist want?' That's what drama is. It comes down to that. It's not about theme, it's not about ideas, it's not about setting, but what the protagonist wants.
David Mamet
Image
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.
David Mamet
Image
Every scene should be able to answer three questions: Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?
David Mamet
Image
Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee's for closers only.
David Mamet
Image
IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.
David Mamet
Image
You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame. Yeah, see, they die of shame. 'What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?' And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives. Thinking.
David Mamet
Image
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
Image
My idea of perfect happiness is a healthy family, peace between nations, and all the critics die.
David Mamet
Image
One person may need (or want) more leisure, another more work one more adventure, another more security, and so on. It is this diversity that makes a country, indeed a state, a city, a church, or a family, healthy. 'One-size-fits-all,' and that size determined by the State has a name, and that name is 'slavery.'
David Mamet
Image
I've been alienating my public since I was 20 years old.
David Mamet
Image
The avant-garde is to the left what jingoism is to the right. Both are a refuge in nonsense.
David Mamet
Image
Like Lincoln said: If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong, and I feel the same way about the leftist dismantling of the West. If that's not wrong, then nothing is wrong.
David Mamet
Image
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.
David Mamet
Image
Our job, as writers is to do our jobs.
David Mamet
Image
Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.
David Mamet