David Mamet Quotes

“You are a shithead, Williamson. If you can't think on your feet you oughta keep your mouth shut.”

“The goal of the Left is a government-run country and that of the Right the freedom of the individual from government. Page 236.”

“People may or may not say what they mean… but they always say something designed to get what they want.”

“It's only words… unless they're true.”

“We all hope. It's what keeps us alive.”

“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”

“Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?”

“Every fear hides a wish.”

“We're all put to the test… but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?”

“Invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school.”

“We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder ‘censorship,’ we call it ‘concern for commercial viability.”

“Anybody that talks to this asshole is a fuckin' asshole.”

“Yes, well that's very cute, but you're running this office like a bunch of bullshit.”

“My alma mater is the Chicago Public Library.”

“You ever take a dump, made you feel you'd just slept for twelve hours?”

“The art of the theater is action. It is the study of commitment. The word is an act. To SAY the word in such a way as to make it heard and understood by all in the theater is a commitment — it is the highest art to see a human being out on a stage speaking to a thousand of his or her peers saying, 'These words which I am speaking are the TRUTH — they are not an approximation of any kind. They are the God's truth, and I support them with my life,' which is what the actor does on stage.”

“Where have you been, Shelly? Bruce and Harriet Nyborg. Do you want to see the memos…? They're nuts… they used to call in every week […] Did you see how they were living? […] The people are insane. They just like talking to salesmen.”

“The good causes of the Left may generally be compared to NASCAR; they offer the diversion of watching things go excitingly around in a circle, getting nowhere. Page 11.”

“Or me lying in the… Let me tell ya… Lying in bed the next day, she brought me cafe au lait, she gives me a cigarette. My balls feel like concrete. Eh?”

“Before you can steal fire from the Gods you gotta be able to get coffee for the director”

“A society can neither advance nor improve without excess of disposable income. This excess can only be amassed through the productions of goods and services necessary or attractive to the mass. A financial system which allows this leads to inequality; one that does not leads to mass starvation. Page 10.”

“Well, to the law, you’re an accessory. Before the fact.”

“[T]he job of mass entertainment is to cajole, seduce and flatter consumers to let them know that what they thought was right is right, and that their tastes and their immediate gratification are of the utmost concern of the purveyor. The job of the artist, on the other hand, is to say, wait a second, to the contrary, everything that we have thought is wrong. Let's reexamine it.”

“We don't have to worry about making it interesting; all we have to worry about is getting rid of the pig.”

“A man should BE his job. You are FUCKED at yours.”

“Get the chalk! Get the fucking chalk! Put me on the board! Put me on the Cadillac board! Williamson! Pick up the fucking chalk! Hey, Rick I closed em! I closed the cocksucker!”