David Mamet Quotes

The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, 'What does the protagonist want?' That's what drama is. It comes down to that. It's not about theme, it's not about ideas, it's not about setting, but what the protagonist wants.

David Mamet

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Quotes to Explore

• One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. To put myself in the position of writing to find out what I was writing.

  

  E. L. Doctorow
  • Writing
  • Myself
  • Trust

• The Kapoor surname has legend, a passion for acting, respect and love attached to it. And I am very proud of that.

  

  Karisma Kapoor
  • Respect
  • Passion
  • Proud

• We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment. How many people can boast as much?

  

  Samuel Beckett
  • People
  • Saints
  • Appointment

• A designer is like a doctor for a woman. He has a specific job, and if he is doing it well, he will have the gratitude of the woman for the rest of his life.

  

  Oleg Cassini
  • Life
  • Job
  • Rest

• People are not perfect... very often the relationships that are strongest are those where people have worked through big crises, but they've had to work through them. So the challenge to us is to work through that.

  

  Patricia Hewitt
  • People
  • Work
  • Perfect

• It is ingrained in all living creatures, first of all, to preserve their own safety, to guard against what is harmful, to strive for what is advantageous.

  

  Saint Ambrose
  • First
  • Safety
  • Strive

• I've really written my books for my husband and our family. They've brought us closer together by allowing us to discuss things that were unspoken for so long.

  

  Pamela Stephenson
  • Long
  • Family
  • Together

• I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf.

  

  Ian Mckellen
  • Like
  • Famous
  • Two

• If you eat something and get fat, you should be responsible for it. I think that is the attitude of the great majority of Americans, that you should be responsible for what you eat.

  

  Vic Snyder
  • Great
  • Attitude
  • Fat

• I think there's plenty of evidence that we need to stop spewing so much carbon into the air, that we're contributing to climate change and that we ought to look for alternatives.

  

  Lamar Alexander
  • Change
  • Stop
  • Air

• They say making laws is like making sausages. You shouldn't watch. It's the same for acting, especially for the actor who works unconsciously.

  

  Ed Asner
  • Acting
  • Same
  • Laws

• There is a liberal fascism that is dedicated to going after believing Christians who follow the biblical teaching on marriage.

  

  Ted Cruz
  • Marriage
  • Believing
  • Liberal

• It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.

  

  Jackie Joyner-Kersee
  • Better
  • Regret
  • Prepare

• When I did '1,2,3,4' on 'Sesame Street' they'd rewritten the song and made it about counting. At first, I balked. I was like, 'Counting to four? That's where we're going with this?' Then they sent me appearances by other people like James Blunt doing 'You're Beautiful' as 'My Triangle.'

  

  Feist
  • People
  • Beautiful
  • Song

• I will not promote other people's songs big time. I will just mention that I produced the song to get the credit I think I deserve.

  

  Anton Zaslavski
  • People
  • Time
  • Song

• I feel very competitive with Robert Morse off-set. We often duke it out. He always wins.

  

  Aaron Staton
  • Always
  • Feel
  • Competitive

• Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.

  

  Walt Whitman
  • Death
  • Beautiful
  • Happen

• I started out with almost entirely black fans except for a little handful of people in the horror writers' community, and those people really liked horror, you know. They will go to any lengths and read whomever they can find because they like that feeling of being scared.

  

  Tananarive Due
  • People
  • Black
  • Feeling

• In time of war all countries behave equally badly, because the power of action is handed over to stupid and obstinate men.

  

  Kenneth Clark
  • Time
  • Men
  • Power

• I used to go to the supermarket dressed as Peter Pan when I was about five years old.

  

  Luke Treadaway

• We might say that the dream tranforms the dreamer; that it possesses the ability to 'initiate', to bestow new meaning, to motivate new beginnings (Latin: initium - beginning), to permit our entrance (literally 'en-trance'; Latin: inire init - to go in) to new orders of relation between ourselves and the 'other'.

  

  Andrew D. Chumbley
  • Dream
  • New
  • Meaning

• I am quite proud that I managed to prove that you don't have to be able to afford drama school or have the right connections to do well.

  

  Kaya Scodelario
  • School
  • Proud
  • Drama

• The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, 'What does the protagonist want?' That's what drama is. It comes down to that. It's not about theme, it's not about ideas, it's not about setting, but what the protagonist wants.

  

  David Mamet
  • Question
  • Drama