243 Quotes by Charlie Kaufman

Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.

I can never watch anything I’ve been involved in, because I know it, and I know what the making of it was like, and I know what’s been cut out and changed. I just know it.

You’ve been a part of me forever. Don’t you know that? I breathe your name in every exhalation.

When you approach middle age, lots of stuff happens. Your body is aging, you’re watching people around you get sick, you’re watching people die, your mortality becomes very present at that point in your life.

I wanted to deal with someone’s idea of their relationship.

I can talk endlessly about characters, or why someone did this or that, and what that dynamic and interaction is. I really love it, and I think that actors really respond positively to the fact that I like to talk about that stuff, because I’m not sure that all directors do.

The world needs you. It doesn’t need you at a party having read a book about how to appear smart at parties – these books exist, and they’re tempting – but resist falling into that trap. The world needs you at the party starting real conversations, saying, ‘I don’t know,’ and being kind.

Sand is overrated. It’s just tiny little rocks.

Before you start production, you have characters you have created without actors in mind, then all of a sudden you’ve got actors. They bring an enormous amount in creating these characters, and creating the dynamics between the characters that you’ve written.