360 Quotes by David Mamet

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

People only speak to get something. If I say, Let me tell you a few things about myself, already your defenses go up; you go, Look, I wonder what he wants from me, because no one ever speaks except to obtain an objective. That's the only reason anyone ever opens their mouth, onstage or offstage. They may use a language that seems revealing, but if so, it's just coincidence, because what they're trying to do is accomplish an objective.

We respond to a drama to that extent to which it corresponds to our dream life.

Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee’s for closers only.

Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement – they offer not drama but thrills.

I love Superman. I’m a big fan of anyone who can make his living in his underwear.

Worry is interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes due...

The most charming of theories holds that someone other than Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare’s plays – that he was of too low a state, and of insufficient education. But where in the wide history of the world do we find art created by the excessively wealthy, powerful, or educated?

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.