#215 | We’re All Actors, No?—17 David Mamet Quotes That Will Make Question Your ‘Role’ in Life
episode SUMMARY:
Douglas Vigliotti dives into the pragmatic acting guide “True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor” by David Mamet, sharing 17 essential quotes and how this reference book holds profound implications for anyone seeking to live more authentically. Discover how Mamet's unorthodox and hard-edged wisdom can transform the way you approach your role in the world. Tap into your inner actor with insights into the true nature of performance, both on stage and in life, with powerful lessons on honesty, courage, and the pitfalls of success.
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Welcome back to “Books for Men”, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week I have a little book to share with you called “True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor” by David Mamet. It's only around 120, or 130 pages or so. It came out in the late nineties, 1997, and maybe you're wondering why I'm sharing with you a book about acting or drama or a reference book on how to act that will become apparent as we dive into the episode. As the title promises, I will be going through my 17 top quotes from the book. Before I do that, I wanted to quickly remind you that I have a brand new book that is coming out in November. It is titled “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on The Art of Story”.
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And if you're interested in finding out more about that, you can by visiting: AristotleforNovelists.com. And I want to just quickly thank everybody who has reached out to me individually with excitement to read this book. It is a labor of love and I'm looking forward to having it out in the wild and people reading it. Also more specifically with this podcast, please remember that the best way that you can support the show is by clicking the subscribe button on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on. It's the surest way to get this podcast in front of more eyeballs and ears and in return inspire more men to read. Lastly, before we jump into the episode, I wanted to remind you that we do have a companion newsletter that goes along with this podcast, and it's just a monthly roundup of all of the episodes from that month complete with full book and author information, all the best quotes, episode summaries and newsletter only book recommendations. So if you're interested in that, you could sign up on the website BooksforMen.org.
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Okay, so now let me jump into the episode. Who is David Mamet? He is a real writer's writer, I would say a playwright, a screenwriter, and just a staunch advocate for the theater in general. He's written, I don't know, over 40 plays or something like that. One's like, “American Buffalo”, “Speed-the-Plow”, “Oleanna”. He won the Pulitzer for “Glengarry Glen Ross”, the drama, not the movie adaptation, which he did write the screenplay for. He has also been nominated for Tony's and written, as I just alluded to, many, many screenplays, 30-something probably including being the showrunner for multiple shows. His famous three-page memo to his writing staff on “The Unit” is now legendary and it's made its circles around the internet. I keep a copy on my computer and printed just in case it ever vanishes.
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That's how much I enjoy reading it. There's humor in it, but it's also extremely informative in a very concise and direct way, which is pretty typical for the author. He's also an Oscar-nominated writer for movies like “The Verdict”, which was directed by another great filmmaker, Sidney Lumet, and starred Paul Newman. I love that movie. And of course, he has published many, many books. I think it's north of 20, mostly on writing craft, theater, directing, and just life in general. Now, I'm not saying you have to agree with everything that he writes, but when it comes to storytelling, craftsmanship, and writing, there's probably nobody better than David Mamet, and that is where there is a lot to be learned. I've read pretty much all of his work, books-wise, and my favorite is probably the more pointed “On Directing Film”, where he discusses the power of intentionality and cutting.
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But the book that I'm sharing with you today, “True and False” is right up there, and sure it's on the craft of acting or what is true and what is false, and it has practical applications for actors and directors and for writers who may be writing characters I've already alluded to. He's been a major influence on my own writing. But more importantly, in my opinion, the reason why this book is so impactful and so powerful and why I wanted to share it with you is because we are all actors playing a role. So this book has tremendous life applications. Now, I know that's a little metaphorical and you might not think of yourself as one, but as I read through these 17 quotes, which I can honestly say it was hard to deduce down to 17, I have probably three or four times the amount, and this book is only 120 pages or so.
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So you can imagine how condensed and powerful it actually is. But as I go through these quotes, I want you to think of yourself as an actor, not the literal sense of being an actor, but you playing a role in your life. Whatever role that is, I want you to look at these quotes through that lens. And of course, if you are an actor, there will be direct application. And the same goes for any creative person, especially any entrepreneur or artist who is creating art for commercial consumption. Quote number one: “The magician creates an illusion in the mind of the audience. So does the actor.” Fun little tidbit. I'm so enamored by magicians as a metaphor. I actually have one tattooed on me. Number two: “Actors almost without exception pursue a course of study as all have passed through ‘some’ training and as a small but predictable percentage of them will have been graced with a predisposition for the stage.
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Therefore, a small percentage will reflect glory on some institution” Love that quote for the nod that it makes toward people and institutions taking credit for things that are not necessarily indicative of them, but they work to support the story. I think this happens a lot in life on an individual and institutional level. Number three: “It is not childish to live with uncertainty, to devote oneself to a craft rather than a career, to an idea rather than an institution. It's courageous and requires courage of the order that institutionally co-opted are ill-equipped to perceive.” Again, this is obviously aimed at institutionalization, but I think that it's very representative of the core tension that rests at the heart of a lot of public debate because the two worlds that he speaks of are just incredibly different from a worldview and lived experience standpoint. Number four: “The audience will teach you how to act and the audience will teach you how to write and to direct the classroom will teach you how to obey and obedience in the theater will get you nowhere.”
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Again, I want to remind you, maybe it's too early, to remember to think of yourself as an actor playing a role in your life, and you may notice some similarities between these first few quotes because they all came from the same essay in the early part of the book. Number five: “Only a fool or a liar would claim to know what they would do when called upon to act with courage.” This quote is a reminder of how comical or deceptive certain people are in our culture who beat their chest saying what they would do if they were in that situation. Of course, there is no telling what you would do until you are in that situation in an honest way. Anyway, number six: “We are trained in our culture to hold our tongue and control our emotions and to behave in a reasonable manner. So to act, one has to unlearn these habits to train oneself, to speak out, to respond quickly, to act forcefully irrespective of what one feels, and in doing so, create the habit not of understanding, not of attributing the moment, but of giving up control and in doing so, giving oneself up to the play.”
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To me, that's just a fine little nod to the roll of the dice and the uncertainty of life. Number seven: “Those with something to fall back on, invariably fall back on it. They intended to all along. That is why they provided themselves with it, but those with no alternative see the world differently.” I think this is a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people, but it just makes sense that desperation will make people look at things in a different way. Number eight: “And yet our truly noble desire to do good work to contribute to the community becomes warped into an empty quest for something which we call success. That quest where many of you and many of your peers will squander youth, your simplicity in whatever you may have of talent.” Another blunt and tough pill to swallow, so to speak, but it's this idea that we are molded at an early age to believe certain things about the world and we potentially waste our most valuable years chasing a story that might not be true.
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Number nine: “Invent nothing, deny nothing. This is the meaning of character.” Easily, one of my favorite quotes from the book, as I see a lot of Eastern philosophy tied into it in the idea of allowing nature and what is supposed to be, instead of forcing yourself onto the world or in this sense the character. Number 10: “Act first to desire your own good opinion.” What could be a more inspirational aim than that? But I think it is often lost as the world forces its opinions and stories upon us. Another one of my favorites is number 11. “This ‘group’ that is judging you is not real. You invented it to make yourself feel less alone.” Wow, that's a heavy one if you let it sit with you for a bit. So I won't even bastardize it by explaining it. Number 12: “If you have something to say, say it and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better.” Another that I think will hit home for a lot of people and remind you that you're not perfect, but you could always work at being better and in the meantime have the confidence that you're on the right path.
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Quote number 13: “Your concentration is like water. It will always seek its own level. It will always flow to the most interesting thing around. The baby will take the cardboard box over the present it contained, as Freud said, a man with a toothache can't be in love.” A powerful reminder that we have the option and the need to construct our environment in an optimal sense to create the best work that we can. Perhaps never more important than now because of all the demands of our attention and concentration. And if what he says is true, your mind is naturally going to flow to those things. Number 14: “The audience will accept anything they're not given a reason to disbelieve.” Again, I will remind you of the metaphor. You are an actor playing a role, and since so much of our world is made up of stories and narratives, this quote is extremely important in many, many ways.
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Quote 15: “A standing ovation could be extorted from the audience. A gasp cannot.” In a literal sense, we see this so much with modern storytelling. It's potentially the difference between playing to an ideology or to an innate liking of a certain group or acting naturally, which creates those, oh my God, did you just see that moment Quote number 16: “It is not a sign of ignorance not to know the answers, but there is great merit in facing the questions.” Honestly, I think this is probably one of the hardest things to do in life because there's so much we don't know. We know a lot less than we think we do, and that's okay, but following those questions, those open doors are the role of the actor, if they want to act truly and honestly. Quote number 17: “A concern with one's talent is like a concern with one's height—it is an attempt to appropriate prerogatives, which the gods have already exercised.”
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This is, only worry about the things that you can control. You may not be as talented as somebody else, but I'm going to give you a bonus quote that's going to remind you of what you do have. And so yes, you've stuck around this long. You're going to get number 18, and it pairs incredibly well with the one I just read you. “A common sign in a boxing gym: BOXERS ARE ORDINARY MEN WITH EXTRAORDINARY DETERMINATION. I would rather be able to consider myself in that way than to consider myself one of the ‘talented’—and if I may, I think you would, too.” Alright, so that just about does it. This has been a little bit of a longer episode, but I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, I wanted to remind you to please click subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on.
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Also, if you are interested in my upcoming book, Aristotle for Novelist, you can find more out about that on the website AristotleforNovelists.com. If you'd like to connect with me, you can on Instagram @DouglasVigliotti. It's the only social media that I have, or by visiting my website, DouglasVigliotti.com. Lastly, if you'd like to listen to any of my latest work, you can by tuning into the podcast, “Slightly Crooked: Good Stories Told Well”. Seasons one and two feature “Tom Collins: A ‘Slightly Crooked’ Novel and a poem collection titled “mini heartbreaks (or, little poems about life)”. Both are written by yours truly, and the links for all of this will be in the show notes. Again, thank you so much for listening and if you want more on this podcast, you could always visit BooksforMen.org.
