Oleanna Quotes

“We can only interpret the behavior of others through the screen we create.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna

“Well, there are those who would say it’s a form of aggression."
"What is?"
"A surprise.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna

“JOHN: You said “Good day.” I think that it is a nice day today.

CAROL: Is it?

JOHN: Yes, I think it is.

CAROL: And why is that important?

JOHN: Because it is the essence of all human communication. I say something
conventional, you respond, and the information we exchange is not about the
“weather,” but that we both agree to converse. In effect, we agree that we are both
human.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna

“If I fail all the time, it must be that I think of myself as a failure. If I do not want to think of myself as a failure, perhaps I should begin by succeeding now and again. Look. The tests, you see, which you encounter, in school, in college, in life, were designed, in the most part, for idiots. By idiots. There is no need to fail at them. They are not a test of your worth. They are a test of your ability to retain and spout back misinformation. Of course you fail them. They’re nonsense. And I …”
― David Mamet, Oleanna: A Play

“What gives you the right. Yes. To speak to a woman in your private … Yes. Yes. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You feel yourself empowered … you say so yourself. To strut. To posture. To “perform.” To “Call me in here …” Eh? You say that higher education is a joke. And treat it as such, you treat it as such. And confess to a taste to play the Patriarch in your class. To grant this. To deny that. To embrace your students.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna: A Play

“Somebody told you, and you hold it as an article of faith, that higher education is an unassailable good. This notion is so dear to you that when I question it you become angry. Good. Good, I say. Are not those the very things which we should question? I say college education, since the war, has become so a matter of course, and such a fashionable necessity, for those either of or aspiring to to the new vast middle class, that we espouse it, as a matter of right, and have ceased to ask, “What is it good for?” (Pause)”
― David Mamet, Oleanna: A Play

“JOHN: I’ll tell you a story about myself. Do you mind? I was raised to think myself stupid. That’s what I want to tell you.

CAROL: What do you mean?

JOHN: Just what I said. I was brought up, and my earliest, and most persistent memories are of being told that I was stupid. “You have such intelligence. Why must you behave so stupidly?” Or, “Can’t you understand? Can’t you understand?” And I could not understand. I could not understand.

CAROL: What?

JOHN: The simplest problem. Was beyond me. It was a mystery.

CAROL: What was a mystery?

JOHN: How people learn. How I could learn. Which is what I’ve been speaking of in class. And of course, you can’t hear it. Carol. Of course, you can’t. (Pause) I used to speak of “real people,” and wonder what the real people did. The real people. Who were they? They were the people other than myself. The good people. The capable people. The people who could do the things, I could not do: learn, study, retain ... all that garbage – which is what I have been talking of in class, and that’s exactly what I have been talking of – If you are told ... Listen to this. If the young child is told, he cannot understand. Then he takes it as a description of himself. What am I? I am that which cannot understand. And I saw you out there, when we were speaking of the concepts of...

CAROL: I can’t understand any of them.

JOHN: Well, then, that’s my fault. That’s not your fault. And that is not verbiage. That’s what I firmly hold to be the truth. And I am sorry, and I owe you an apology.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna

“You see. I don't think that I need your help. I don't think I need anything you have.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna

“I asked you here to in the spirit of investigation, to ask you... to ask... (Pause) What have I done to you?”
― David Mamet, Oleanna

“That I desired it, that I was not pure of longing...”
― David Mamet, Oleanna

“Somebody told you, and you hold it as an article of faith, that higher education is an unassailable good.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna: A Play

“Well, you see? That’s what I’m saying. We can only interpret the behavior of others through the screen we … (The phone rings.) Through … (To phone:) Hello …? (To CAROL:) Through the screen we create.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna: A Play

“perhaps, they stopped. But I heard them continue.”
― David Mamet, Oleanna: A Play