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David Mamet

David Mamet Quotes

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Famous David Mamet Quotes

“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.”

WayGovernmentPoliticalDesireEvilIndividualPartyGreedVariousBranchesOppositionTemperFoundersPolitical PartiesSubmissionCoercionElectorateNecessary Evil
Author:David Mamet
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“Every reiteration of the idea that _nothing matters_ debases the human spirit. Every reiteration of the idea that there is no drama in modern life, there is only dramatization, that there is no tragedy, there is only unexplained misfortune, debases us. It denies what we know to be true. In denying what we know, we are as a nation which cannot remember its dreams--like an unhappy person who cannot remember his dreams and so denies that he does dream, and denies that there are such things as dreams.”

KnowsHumansPersonsDoeIdeasDreamRememberSpiritNationsModernDramaTragedyDenyUnhappyBeing TrueMisfortunesHuman SpiritModern LifeUnexplainedUnhappy PersonNo Drama
Book:Writing in restaurants
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“Anyone can write five people trapped in a snowstorm. The question is how you get them into the snowstorm. It's hard to write a good play because it's hard to structure a plot. If you can think of it off the top of your head, so can the audience. To think of a plot that is, as Aristotle says, surprising and yet inevitable, is a lot, lot, lot of work.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWritingHardPlayAudienceFiveStructureInevitablePlotSurprisingTrappedSnowstorms
Author:David Mamet
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“At the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre, Sanford Meisner said, 'When you go into the professional world, at a stock theatre somewhere, backstage, you will meet an older actor, someone who has been around awhile. He will tell you tales and anecdotes, about life in the theatre. He will speak to you about your performance and the performances of others, and he will generalize to you, based on his experience and his intuitions, about the laws of the stage. Ignore this man!'”

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Author:David Mamet
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“Society functions in a way much more interesting than the multiple-choice pattern we have been rewarded for succeeding at in school. Success in life comes not from the ability to choose between the four presented answers, but from the rather more difficult and painfully acquired ability to formulate the questions.”

WayHas BeensSchoolChoicesDifficultAbilityAnswersInterestingFourSucceedFunctionPatternsMultipleSuccess In LifeAbility To ChooseMultiple Choice
Author:David Mamet
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“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.”

DoeMassTradeFinancialProductionsIncomeInequalityAttractiveGoodsExcessStarvationDisposableGoods And ServicesFinancial System
Book:The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture
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