They say you can't study Kabbalah until you are at least 40 years old. You know why? You have to have experienced at least one generation making the same mistakes as the previous one.
David MametRead
Don't write stage directions. If it is not apparent what the character is trying to accomplish by saying the line, tell us how the character said it or whether or not she moved to the couch isn't going to aid the case.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Focus on the essence of the dialogue rather than unnecessary details in storytelling.
David Mamet emphasizes the importance of clarity in writing, especially in plays. He suggests that the intention behind a character's words should be evident through their delivery, rather than cluttered with superfluous stage directions that do not enhance the audience's understanding of the character's motivations or actions.
Themes
DialogueWritingClarityTheaterStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on playwriting, to illustrate effective dialogue, you could quote Mamet to encourage writers to focus on character intention.
More from David Mamet
All quotes →My alma mater is the Chicago Public Library. I got what little educational foundation I got in the third-floor reading room, under the tutelage of a Coca-Cola sign.
David MametRead
You know, young actors say all the time, 'Should I use my own life experience?' And my response is, 'What choice do you have?'
David MametRead
It's hard for a Jew of my generation, an American Jew, who is philo-Zionistic, not to romanticize Israel.
David MametRead
You can't write about history without writing about politics at some point. History is about movements of people. 'What is criminality and what is government' is a theme that runs through every history.
David MametRead
Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.
David MametRead
Similar quotes
It is not my job to compare my movies. I don't like to compare my films with other movies because I don't really have that perspective. It is an intellectual exercise, but it doesn't intuitively come to me.
Steven SpielbergRead
It is music that welds spiritual and sensual, that can convey ecstasy free of guilt, faith without dogma, love as homage, and a person at home with nature and the infinite.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
When you start with a portrait and try to find pure form by abstracting more and more, you must end up with an egg.
Pablo PicassoRead
In a rehearsal room, your real resource as an actor aren't the things around you; your resources are your imagination and your director and the other actors. In those close quarters, your imagination and your skills are what you turn to.
Stephen LangRead
Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that god gave me to use. I'm happy with that.
Aretha FranklinRead
You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.
Ernest HemingwayRead