I've always been more comfortable sinking while clutching a good theory than swimming with an ugly fact. David Mamet More Quotes by David Mamet More Quotes From David Mamet We Americans have always considered Hollywood, at best, a sinkhole of depraved venality. And, of course, it is. It is not a protective monastery of aesthetic truth. It is a place where everything is incredibly expensive. David Mamet monasteries sinkholes hollywood Welcome to Chicago. This town stinks like a whorehouse at low tide. David Mamet tides chicago law The avant-garde is to the left what jingoism is to the right. Both are a refuge in nonsense. David Mamet jingoism nonsense avant-garde We recipients of the boon of liberty have always been ready, when faced with discomfort, to discard any and all first principles of liberty, and, further, to indict those who do not freely join with us in happily arrogating those principles. David Mamet liberty government principles The audience will teach you how to act and the audience will teach you how to write and to direct. The classroom will teach you how to obey, and obedience in the theatre will get you nowhere. It’s a soothing falsity. David Mamet classroom theatre writing If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm all criminals, and let them accidentally shoot themselves? Is this absurd? Yes, and yet the government, of course, is arming criminals. David Mamet arms criminals government The study of acting consists in the main of getting out of one’s own way, and in learning to deal with uncertainty and being comfortable being uncomfortable. David Mamet acting study way Everyone needs money. That's why they call it money David Mamet heist need-money needs The liberals in my neighbourhood wouldn't give away Brentwood to the Palestinians, but they want to give away Tel Aviv. David Mamet palestinian want giving I look back on my liberal political beliefs with a sort of wonder - as another exercise in self-involvement - rewarding myself for some superiority I could not logically describe. David Mamet political self exercise When we leave the play saying how spectacular the sets or costumes were, or how interesting the ideas, it means we had a bad time. David Mamet play mean ideas You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame. Yeah, see, they die of shame. 'What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?' And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives. Thinking. David Mamet book people thinking The Founders recognized that Government is quite literally a necessary evil, that there must be opposition, between its various branches, and between political parties, for these are the only ways to temper the individual's greed for power and the electorates' desires for peace by submission to coercion or blandishment. David Mamet party government evil Invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school. David Mamet deny speak school Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit. David Mamet spirit matter ideas A dramatic experience concerned with the mundane may inform but it cannot release; and one concerned essentially with the aesthetic politics of its creators may divert or anger, but it cannot enlighten. David Mamet enlightening theatre may We cannot live without trade. A society can neither advance nor improve without excess of disposable income. This excess can only be amassed through the production 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. David Mamet excess income doe The mind is a mill which can incessant turn, 'til its mere operation focus the stress inward and the stones grind themselves to dust. David Mamet stress focus dust If you're neurotic and you think, I'm not where I deserve to be or my mother didn't love me, or blah, blah, blah, that lie, that neurotic vision, takes over your life and you're plagued by it 'til it's cleansed. In a play, at the end of the play, the lie is revealed. [T]he better the play is, the more surprising and inevitable the lie is, as Aristotle told us. Plays are about lies. David Mamet mother lying thinking I don't have any experience with film schools. I suspect that they're useless, because I've had experience with drama schools, and have found them to be useless. David Mamet useless drama school
