I'm afraid of only two things: being lazy and being cowardly. David Mamet More Quotes by David Mamet More Quotes From David Mamet What we're trying to do is find two or more shots the juxtaposition of which will give us the idea. David Mamet giving two ideas You can't rely on the acting to tell the story. David Mamet rely acting stories Hitchcock denigrated American films, saying they were all 'pictures of people talking' - as, indeed, most of them are. David Mamet film talking people War is tragedy. The great war stories are tragedies. It's the failure of diplomacy. 'War and Peace,' 'A Farewell to Arms,' 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Those are some of the greatest tragedies. David Mamet farewell tragedy war You got an all-out prize fight, you wait 'til the fight's over, one guy's left standing and that's how you know who's won. David Mamet fighting law winning You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way! And that's how you get Capone. David Mamet knives gun want When I started out I was a failed actor. David Mamet actors I like Bach. I like Randy Newman. David Mamet newman randy I didn't knowingly meet a conservative until, to my shame, I was 60 years old and sat down and said, 'Wow, I don't understand what this guy's talking about, but he has a great civility about him. Perhaps I better investigate this thing.' David Mamet guy talking years For it is written that just as it is forbidden to partake of the forbidden, it is forbidden not to partake of the permitted. David Mamet forbidden written The terror and beauty of the dream come from the connection of previously unrelated mundanities of life. David Mamet connections terror dream My dad was a labour lawyer, and the ideas that I grew up with - bad management, bad capitalism, robber barons - when I applied this to my own life, I saw that we are all on both sides of the coin. David Mamet coins dad ideas 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 gambling pain winning Culture exists and evolves to relegate to habit categories of interactions the constant conscious reference to which would make human interaction impossible. David Mamet habit impossible culture We respond to a drama to that extent to which it corresponds to our dream life. David Mamet our-dreams dream drama No one enjoys being equal. David Mamet equal equality enjoy Many players will not improve because they cannot bear self-knowledge. David Mamet gambling player self Consider: for all the gobbledegook [film studio] executives spout about backstory, all that we, the audience, want to know is what happens next. That's the only thing that's going on. . . . Character is nothing other than action, and character-driven means The plot stinks, and you'd better hope the star is popular enough to open the movie in spite of it. David Mamet stars character mean As long as the protagonist wants something, the audience will want something. David Mamet protagonists want-something long It is to a dramatist, which is to say, to an unfrocked psychoanalyst, stunning that that which has sustained the Left in my generation, its avatar, its prime issue, has been abortion. For, whether or not it is regarded as a woman's right, an unfortunate necessity, or murder, which is to say, irrespective of differing and legitimate political views, to enshrine it as the most important test of the Liberal, is, mythologically, an assertion to the ultimate right of a postreligious Paganism. David Mamet abortion issues views
