243 Quotes by Charlie Kaufman

Directing is a more pragmatic experience, where you have to deal with the restrictions of time and money that force you to make certain decisions you don’t have to make when you’re writing.

I don’t have a style. I wouldn’t say I have a style as a writer, either. I know people have said “This is what he does,” but when I’m writing, I don’t think about that. I don’t think about a style.

There really is only one ending to any story. Human life ends in death. Until then, it keeps going and gets complicated and there’s loss. Everything involves loss; every relationship ends in one way or another.

The difference between a movie and a play is that the production you end up with is the production. If a movie that I spent time on turns out to be crap, it’s never going to be made again.

I try to present something that is true so I don’t further destroy the world with my contribution to it.

There’s theater in life, obviously, and there’s life in theater.

If you ever got me, you wouldn’t have a clue what to do with me.

Sometimes I feel my thoughts are not my own, that I am thinking wrong things, stupid things, ridiculous things, for the amusement of an unseen audience.

I do have some theatrical background. I’ve written plays and seen plays and read plays. But I also read novels. One thing I don’t read is screenplays.