Quote

I pray you indulge me for a space, for I am going to set out on a speech which may have some duration, but whose theme may be gleaned from its opening phrase: how dare you.

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
Dare
Gleaned
Praying
Duration
Speech
Indulge
Whose
Phrase
Space
Phrases
May
Theme
Going
Opening
Pray

More quotes by David Mamet

Image
A play is basically a long, formalistic polemic. You can write it without the poetry, and if you do, you may have a pretty good play. We know this because we see plays in translation. Not many people speak Norwegian or Danish or whatever guys like Ibsen spoke, or Russian - yet we understand Chekhov and the others.
David Mamet
Image
Let the cut tell the story. Otherwise you have not got dramatic action, you've got narration.
David Mamet
Image
You can't rely on the acting to tell the story.
David Mamet
Image
We cannot live in peace without Law. And though law cannot be perfect, it may be just if it is written in ignorance of the identity of the claimants and applied equally to all. Then it is a possession not only of the claimants but of the society, which may now base its actions upon a reasonable assumption of the law?s treatment.
David Mamet
Image
We're all put to the test... but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?
David Mamet
Image
If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm all criminals, and let them accidentally shoot themselves? Is this absurd? Yes, and yet the government, of course, is arming criminals.
David Mamet
Image
They say the definition of ambivalence is watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your new Cadillac.
David Mamet
Image
The pain of losing is diverting. So is the thrill of winning. Winning, however, is lonelier, as those you've won money from are not likely to commiserate with you. Winning takes getting used to.
David Mamet
Image
Our job, as writers is to do our jobs.
David Mamet
Image
In practice we, in the world, must do business with each other.
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
What we're trying to do is find two or more shots the juxtaposition of which will give us the idea.
David Mamet
Image
Writing a novel is an incredibly free experience. One puts one's self in a narrative mode. You can go off in any direction - the past, the future, or go laterally, or include one's own beliefs. It's total freedom.
David Mamet
Image
Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee's for closers only.
David Mamet
Image
Every fear hides a wish.
David Mamet
Image
It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.
David Mamet
Image
Always do things the least interesting way, the most blunt way, and you make a better movie. This is my experience.
David Mamet
Image
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
Image
All of us. All of us. We're doomed.
David Mamet
Image
What I value most in my friends is loyalty.
David Mamet