A play, after all, is a mystery. There's no narration. And as soon as there's no narration, it's open to interpretation. It must be interpreted. You don't have a choice... Each play can become many things.
Mike NicholsRead
The thing about being an outsider... is that it teaches you to hear what people are thinking because you're constantly looking for the people who just don't give a damn.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being an outsider offers a unique perspective, allowing one to understand the thoughts and feelings of others more deeply.
Mike Nichols' quote suggests that the experience of being an outsider cultivates a heightened awareness of social dynamics and human behavior. This outsider perspective compels individuals to observe and listen more carefully, as they seek connection with those who are authentic and unaffected by societal norms.
Themes
OutsiderPerspectiveUnderstandingAuthenticitySocial Dynamics
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about individuality and societal expectations.
More from Mike Nichols
All quotes →There’s nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you’re meant to do. It’s like falling in love.
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You could say that it's in talking movies that inner life begins to appear. You can see things happen to the faces of people that were neither planned nor rehearsed.
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I've learned that many of the worst things lead to the best things, that no great thing is achieved without a couple of bad, bad things on the way to them, and that the bad things that happen to you bring, in some cases, the good things.
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Plays, especially great plays, yield their secrets over a long period of time. You can't read it three times and say, 'OK, I got it. I know what's happening.'
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Things come in waves, and I'm always more interested in places like, for instance, Chicago, where people don't follow fashion. They're not galloping past your window on the way to the latest anything. They're living their lives. You do a play, they come and see it and say, 'That's nice', and then they go home.
Mike NicholsRead
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