Quotes from David Mamet

The liberals in my neighbourhood wouldn't give away Brentwood to the Palestinians, but they want to give away Tel Aviv.

I love the British.

President Obama seems to understand the Constitution as a 'set of suggestions.'

The essence of jiu-jitsu is philosophy.

I look back upon my Liberal political beliefs with a sort of wonder - as another exercise in self-involvement - rewarding myself for some superiority I could not logically describe.

I understand that computers, which I once believed to be but a hermaphrodite typewriter-cum-filing cabinet, offer the cyber literate increased ability to communicate. I do not think this is altogether a bad thing, however it may appear on the surface.

I always thought the real violence in Hollywood isn't what's on the screen. It's what you have to do to raise the money.

The pain of losing is diverting. So is the thrill of winning. Winning, however, is lonelier, as those you've won money from are not likely to commiserate with you. Winning takes getting used to.

They say the definition of ambivalence is watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your new Cadillac.

All fears are one fear. Just the fear of death. And we accept it, then we are at peace.

War is tragedy. The great war stories are tragedies. It's the failure of diplomacy. 'War and Peace, ' 'A Farewell to Arms, ' 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Those are some of the greatest tragedies.

Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.

Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

First prize is a Cadillac Eldorado…. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired.

Life in the movie business is like the… beginning of a new love affair: it's full of surprises, and you're constantly getting fucked.

I understand that computers, which I once believed to be but a hermaphrodite typewriter-cum-filing cabinet, offer the cyber literate increased ability to communicate. I do not think this is altogether a bad thing, however it may appear on the surface.

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.

Who ever told you that you could work with men?

In my family, in the days prior to television, we liked to while away the evenings by making ourselves miserable, solely based on our ability to speak the language viciously.

My greatest fear is that the audience will beat me to the punch line.

You know, young actors say all the time, 'Should I use my own life experience?' And my response is, 'What choice do you have?'

It's called a confidence game. Why? Because you give me your confidence? No. Because I give you mine.

In practice we, in the world, must do business with each other.

Policemen so cherish their status as keepers of the peace and protectors of the public that they have occasionally been known to beat to death those citizens or groups who question that status.