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
A stage play is basically a form of uber-schizophrenia. You split yourself into two minds - one being the protagonist and the other being the antagonist. The playwright also splits himself into two other minds: the mind of the writer and the mind of the audience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the complexity of creating a stage play, involving a deep division of identity between characters and the creators.
David Mamet's quote reflects on the intricate nature of theater, where a playwright and actors embody contrasting roles, simultaneously engaging with multiple perspectives. This duality enhances the storytelling experience, as the creative process requires the playwright to understand both the characters they create and the audience's reactions. Through this 'uber-schizophrenia,' the art of drama becomes a profound exploration of human nature and the many roles we play in life.
Themes
TheaterIdentityPerformancePlaywrightAudience
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the importance of creativity in education, one could quote Mamet to illustrate the depth of thought involved in artistic expression.
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
Drink wine, drink poetry, drink virtue.
Charles BaudelaireRead
When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Art would be useless if the world were perfect.
Andrei TarkovskyRead
Fashion is a language. Some know it, some learn it, some never will - like an instinct.
Edith HeadRead
In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what's human and magical that still live and glow despite the times' darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.
David Foster WallaceRead
Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They wade through it the way a boy wades through water, feeling with his toes for the bottom: The echoes are the bottom.
Wallace StevensRead