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Make The Audience Wonder What's Going On By Putting Them In The Same Position As The Protagonist.
-David Mamet
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Make The Audience Wonder

David Mamet
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Make The Audience Wonder What's Going On By Putting Them In The Same Position As The Protagonist.

Understanding the Quote: "make the audience wonder what's going on by putting them in the..."

This quote by David Mamet reflects deeply on the theme of wonder. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Wonder, Protagonists, Audience, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how David Mamet interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About David Mamet

David Mamet is celebrated for insightful thoughts on wonder and protagonists. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Wonder
Protagonists
Audience
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Dad
Ideas
Coins
If You Find That A Point Cannot Be Made Without Narration, It Is Virtually Certain That The Point Is Unimportant To The Story (which Is To Say, To The Audience).
Stories
Made
Certain
There Is No Such Thing As Character Other Than The Habitual Action, As Mr. Aristotle Told Us Two Thousand Years Ago.
Character
Years
Two
Old Age And Treachery Will Always Beat Youth And Exuberance.
Age
Youth
Beats
What We're Trying To Do Is Find Two Or More Shots The Juxtaposition Of Which Will Give Us The Idea.
Ideas
Two
Giving
My Greatest Fear Is That The Audience Will Beat Me To The Punch Line.
Greatest Fear
Lines
Beats
In A World We Find Terrifying, We Ratify That Which Doesn't Threaten Us.
Scary
Insecurity
World
I've Always Been Fascinated By The Picaresque.
Picaresque
Fascinated
We Cannot Live In Peace Without Law. And Though Law Cannot Be Perfect, It May Be Just If It Is Written In Ignorance Of The Identity Of The Claimants And Applied Equally To All. Then It Is A Possession Not Only Of The Claimants But Of The Society, Which May Now Base Its Actions Upon A Reasonable Assumption Of The Law?s Treatment.
Ignorance
Law
Perfect
As You All Know First Prize Is A Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone Wanna See Second Prize? Second Prize Is A Set Of Steak Knives. Third Prize Is You're Fired.
Knives
Cadillacs
Firsts
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.
War
Farewell
Tragedy
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 Theatre Will Get You Nowhere. It’s A Soothing Falsity.
Writing
Theatre
Classroom
I'm Afraid Of Only Two Things: Being Lazy And Being Cowardly.
Two
Lazy
Cowardly Acts
I Like Bach. I Like Randy Newman.
Newman
Randy
How Can I Be Secure? Through Amassing Wealth Beyond All Measure? No. And What's Beyond Measure? That's A Sickness. That's A Trap. There Is No Measure. Only Greed.
Greed
Wealth
Sickness
All Of Us. All Of Us. We're Doomed.
Doomed
When You Come Into The Theatre, You Have To Be Willing To Say, 'we're All Here To Undergo A Communion, To Find Out What The Hell Is Going On In This World.' If You're Not Willing To Say That, What You Get Is Entertainment Instead Of Art, And Poor Entertainment At That.
Art
Theatre
World
Make The Audience Wonder What's Going On By Putting Them In The Same Position As The Protagonist.
Wonder
Protagonists
Audience
Don't Assume I'm Dumb Because I Wear A Suit And Tie.
Ties
Dumb
Suits
It's Hard For A Jew Of My Generation, An American Jew, Who Is Philo-zionistic, Not To Romanticize Israel.
Israel
Generations
Jew
I Grew Up In A Tough Neighborhood And We Used To Say You Can Get Further With A Kind Word And A Gun Than Just A Kind Word.
Gun
Tough
Kind
You Got An All-out Prize Fight, You Wait 'til The Fight's Over, One Guy's Left Standing And That's How You Know Who's Won.
Fighting
Winning
Law
The True Writer Must Write Not The Acceptable But The True.
Writing
Acceptable
I'm Greedy And Ambitious Like Everybody Else.
Ambitious
Greedy
The Honest Man Might Observe... That No One Gets Something For Nothing; That Politicians Go In Poor And Go Out Rich; That The Government Screws Up Everything It Touches; And That The Will To Believe Is Best Confined To The Religious Venue, As To Practice It Elsewhere Is Just Too Damned Expensive.
Religious
Believe
Men
A Good Film Script Should Be Able To Do Completely Without Dialogue.
Movie
Able
Scripts
The Individual Is Not Only Best Qualified To Provide His Own Personal Defense, He Is The Only One Qualified To Do So: And His Right To Do So Is Guaranteed By The Constitution.
Defense
Constitution
Individual
I'm Not The Guy To Ask About Politics. I'm A Gag Writer.
Guy
Gags
Asks
It Is Not The Constitutional Prerogative Of The Government To Determine Needs.
Government
Needs
Determine
I'm Entitled To My Political Opinions, And I Get To Vote Because I'm An American.
Political Opinions
Vote
Entitled
Here's What Happens In A Play. You Get Involved In A Situation Where Something Is Unbalanced. If Nothing's Unbalanced, There's No Reason To Have A Play. If Hamlet Comes Home From School, And His Dad's Not Dead And Asks Him If He's Had A Good Time, It's Boring. But If Something's Unbalanced, It Must Be Returned To Order.
Dad
Home
School
We Must Have A Pie. Stress Cannot Exist In The Presence Of A Pie.
Stress
Food
Pie
The Pursuit Of Fashion Is The Attempt Of The Middle Class To Co-opt Tragedy. In Adopting The Clothing, Speech, And Personal Habits Of Those In Straitened, Dangerous, Or Pitiful Circumstances, The Middle Class Seeks To Have What It Feels To Be The Exigent And Nonequivocal Experiences Had By Those It Emulates.
Fashion
Class
Tragedy
I Examined My Liberalism And Found It Like An Addiction To Roulette. Here, Though The Odds Are Plain, And The Certainty Of Loss Apparent To Anyone With A Knowledge Of Arithmetic, The Addict, Failing Time And Again, Is Convinced He Yet Is Graced With The Power To Contravene Natural Laws. The Roulette Addict, When He Invariably Comes To Grief, Does Not Examine Either The Nature Of Roulette, Or Of His Delusion, But Retires To Develop A New System, And To Scheme For More Funds.
Grief
Loss
Odds
All Fears Are One Fear. Just The Fear Of Death. And We Accept It, Then We Are At Peace.
Fear Of Death
Accepting
I Look Back On 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.
Exercise
Self
Political
Hitchcock Denigrated American Films, Saying They Were All 'pictures Of People Talking' - As, Indeed, Most Of Them Are.
Talking
People
Film
There's Nothing In The World More Silent Than The Telephone The Morning After Everybody Pans Your Play. It Won't Ring From Room Service; Your Mother Won't Be Calling You. If The Phone Has Not Rung By 8 In The Morning, You're Dead.
Mother
Morning
Phones
The First Amendment Ensures Not That Speech Will Be Fair, But That It Will Be Free. It Cannot Be Both.
Speech
Firsts
First Amendment
You Know, Young Actors Say All The Time, 'should I Use My Own Life Experience?' And My Response Is, 'what Choice Do You Have?'
Choices
Use
Actors
In Playwriting, You've Got To Be Able To Write Dialogue. And If You Write Enough Of It And Let It Flow Enough, You'll Probably Come Across Something That Will Give You A Key As To Structure. I Think The Process Of Writing A Play Is Working Back And Forth Between The Moment And The Whole. The Moment And The Whole, The Fluidity Of The Dialogue And The Necessity Of A Strict Construction. Letting One Predominate For A While And Coming Back And Fixing It So That Eventually What You Do, Like A Pastry Chef, Is Frost Your Mistakes, If You Can.
Mistake
Writing
Thinking
No One Enjoys Being Equal.
Equality
Enjoy
Equal
For It Is Written That Just As It Is Forbidden To Partake Of The Forbidden, It Is Forbidden Not To Partake Of The Permitted.
Forbidden
Written
I Used To Think I'd Like To Be A Fireman - In Fact, I Still Would - And The Only Drawback I Could See Was Coming Back To The Firehouse, After A Day Of Fighting Fires, And Still Having To Put In An Eight-hour Day Writing.
Writing
Fighting
Thinking
I Didn't Knowingly Meet A Conservative Until, To My Shame, I Was 60 Years Old And Sat Down And Said, 'wow, I Don't Understand What This Guy's Talking About, But He Has A Great Civility About Him. Perhaps I Better Investigate This Thing.'
Talking
Years
Guy
Blasphemy And Prayer Are One. Both Assert The Existence Of A Superior Power. The First, However, With Conviction.
Prayer
Firsts
Conviction
I Don't Think There's Any Information To Be Gotten From Television.
Thinking
Television
Information
You Know, I Once Read An Interesting Book Which Said That, Uh, Most People Lost In The Wilds, They, They Die Of Shame. Yeah, See, They Die Of Shame. 'what Did I Do Wrong? How Could I Have Gotten Myself Into This?' And So They Sit There And They... Die. Because They Didn't Do The One Thing That Would Save Their Lives. Thinking.
Book
Thinking
People
I Won't Ever Do E-mail.
Mail
My Definition Of A 'friend' Is, Coming From Chicago, Someone Who Says, 'yeah, Sure. You Know What? Let's Talk About What We Can Talk About. Let's Help Each Other Out. Your Politics Are None Of My Business.'
Chicago
Definitions
Helping
Trending Author
Derrick Bell
Elvis Presley
Robertson Davies
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Category
Information