Top 100 Aaron Sorkin Quotes
#1. Live your life as if it was written by Aaron Sorkin
Jonah Bergan
#2. I don't claim to be some Aaron Sorkin expert, but it is like a Camelot. His shows are a place where people are trying to reach their highest potential. And I think we miss that sometimes. If I got a chance to do 'The Newsroom,' I would have done it yesterday.
Dule Hill
#3. Aaron Sorkin was completely unable to understand the actual psychology of Mark or of Facebook. He can't conceive of a world where social status or getting laid or, for that matter, doing drugs, is not the most important thing.
Marc Andreessen
#4. For better or worse, I have a lot of vaudeville circus skills that you just can't showcase in Aaron Sorkin's work.
Joshua Malina
#5. I think Aaron Sorkin is like Shakespeare. When you go through it, there is a rhythm and clues all over the place of how it should be played.
Chris Messina
#6. There were two auditions for 'The Social Network,' one with Aaron Sorkin and one with David Fincher. I was a nervous wreck. I was like, 'Okay, how do I hold the paper without my hands making it shake?'
Armie Hammer
#7. 'West Wing' was huge. Like 'Hamilton,' it pulls back the curtain on how decision-making happens at the highest level, or at least how you hope it would be. The amount of information Aaron Sorkin packs into a scene gave me this courage to trust the audience to keep up.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
#8. My experience on 'The West Wing' was, I think, now rare in that I was pretty young, and I walked into this environment where Aaron Sorkin was giving me a script every week, and Thomas Schlamme and John Wells were keeping the studio off my back, at least as best as they could.
Alex Graves
#9. Anything that Aaron Sorkin writes, I could watch a million times. One of the few shows that I've watched in repeats was 'The West Wing.'
Ben Feldman
#10. I like to say good dialogue is a million times easier to memorize than bad dialogue - difficult good dialogue, even if it's difficult. Aaron Sorkin dialogue is easier to memorize, even though it's wildly complicated.
Jesse Bradford
#11. I don't think I ever got the hang of the writers' room. I love collaborating with people, but I really do my best work alone, and I think I would want to - if I did something again, I think I'd want to take total ownership the way Aaron Sorkin or David Kelley does.
Diablo Cody
#12. I'd love to work with Aaron Sorkin on something. Just the way he writes, he has no fear in writing people that are fiercely intelligent, and I love that.
David Tennant
#13. Aaron Sorkin has been incredibly good to me; I don't know that I would have an acting career without him. Thanks to him, people think I'm smart and nice, but I'm neither.
Joshua Malina
#14. I am lucky enough to have Aaron Sorkin write what I have to say.
Allison Janney
#15. I knew I wanted to be an actor, and my mother said, 'Call Aaron Sorkin.' It seemed dubious that I'd make it as an actor by calling Jews I knew, but it worked.
Joshua Malina
#16. You can't really compare any TV show to a show written by Aaron Sorkin.
Constance Zimmer
#17. I think it's great when writers get recognition; it doesn't happen very often. I just don't want that writer to be me. Let it be Aaron Sorkin or, you know, somebody good.
Diablo Cody
#18. Though Moneyball had the talents of screenwriters Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin going for it, they weren't baseball insiders.
Brad Pitt
#19. I've always loved the writing of Aaron Sorkin. He cleverly intersperses big issues alongside personal relationships.
Rupert Evans
#20. I feel like I've had a number of roles in suits, which is hilarious to the people who know me, because it couldn't be further from who I am and what I wear. I think that Aaron Sorkin is, to a certain extent, responsible.
Clark Gregg
#21. Every creator sets up their world differently. That's what's so amazing about someone like Aaron Sorkin and his writing.
Lesli Linka Glatter
#22. Liberals could live their whole lives never having to hear an actual conservative opinion other than the idiotic arguments written for conservative characters on Aaron Sorkin's little teleplays.
Ann Coulter
#23. Aaron Sorkin is why people hate liberals. He's a smug, condescending know-it-all who isn't as smart as he thinks he is.
Alex Pareene
#24. Everybody knows Aaron Sorkin's scripts. There's a huge amount of lines. There's a huge amount of interchange. You gotta do a lot of learning to be able to get it up to pace.
Danny Boyle
#25. I don't think Aaron Sorkin can write a character who isn't really funny.
Clark Gregg
#26. I'm not sophisticated when it comes to politics, when it comes to journalism.
Aaron Sorkin
#27. Presidents don't make new friends. That's why they've got to keep their old ones. Adm. Fitzwallace
Aaron Sorkin
#28. I've always thought that there is a great female James Bond movie to be done. I'm not literally calling her Jane Bond, I mean, but a female secret agent.
Aaron Sorkin
#29. I'm not interested in the difference between good and bad, I'm interested in the differences between good and great.
Aaron Sorkin
#30. I have all of the Apple products. Everything I've ever written, I've written on a Mac. My first computer, my roommates and I chipped in, and we got that first Macintosh - 128K. It had as much memory as a greeting card that plays music.
Aaron Sorkin
#31. There's a great tradition in storytelling that's thousands of years old, telling stories about kings and their palaces, and that's really what I wanted to do.
Aaron Sorkin
#32. This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up.
Aaron Sorkin
#33. Oratory should raise your heart rate. Oratory should blow the doors off the place.
Aaron Sorkin
#34. First scenes are super-important to me. I'll spend months and months pacing and climbing the walls trying to come up with the first scene. I drive for hours on the freeway.
Aaron Sorkin
#35. I get nervous before openings or premieres or when someone's reading a new script, and I get nervous when my daughter isn't in my immediate field of vision.
Aaron Sorkin
#36. I have a big problem with people who glamorize dumbness and demonize education and intellect. And I'm giving a pretty good description of Sarah Palin right now.
Aaron Sorkin
#37. Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world, it's the only thing that ever has.
Aaron Sorkin
#38. The real problem with all drugs is that they work. Fantastically. They're great, right up until the moment they kill you.
Aaron Sorkin
#39. There are some screw-ups headed your way. I wish I could tell you that there was a trick to avoiding the screw-ups ... but they're coming for ya. It's a combination of life being unpredictable, and you being super dumb.
Aaron Sorkin
#40. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character.
Aaron Sorkin
#41. I do not diminish the incredible symbolic importance of a black man getting elected president. But my euphoria was a smart guy getting elected president. Maybe for the first time in my lifetime we had elected one of the thousand smartest Americans president.
Aaron Sorkin
#42. The downside to series television is that the schedule is ferocious. It constantly feels like you have a midterm due that you haven't started yet.
Aaron Sorkin
#43. Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.
Aaron Sorkin
#44. If I get an idea for a series that I really like, I'm sure I won't be able to resist coming back and doing it.
Aaron Sorkin
#45. Conflict, when used as a device, makes for good television and bad journalism.
Aaron Sorkin
#46. I have a lot of respect for people who are great at ad-libbing and for writers and directors who are able to create a scene in which that works. Judd Apatow is fantastic at it. But as an audience member, I like the sound of something that's been written - I like it to sound written.
Aaron Sorkin
#47. People who don't know anything tend to make up fake rules, the real rules being considerably more difficult to learn.
Aaron Sorkin
#48. As an audience member, I like the sound of something that's been written - I like it to sound written. And then, of course, you can't do it without the musicians who can play it.
Aaron Sorkin
#49. My resting pulse as a writer is writing idealistically and romantically; aspirationally. My taste lies in quixotic heroes.
Aaron Sorkin
#50. I think that if I couldn't write, I would be unemployable.
Aaron Sorkin
#51. I've got plenty of quirks. I go to an office early in the morning. Early in the morning is really good writing time. I take anywhere between six to eight showers a day. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not a germaphobe: it's all about a fresh start.
Aaron Sorkin
#52. If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.
(Isaac Jaffe, Sports Night)
Aaron Sorkin
#53. I consider plot a necessary intrusion on what I really want to do, which is write snappy dialogue.
Aaron Sorkin
#55. I'm a playwright. All I care about is the play being good.
Aaron Sorkin
#56. That's a very real feeling - that I don't have a story to tell. I'm not a pure storyteller. I have a tough time with story.
Aaron Sorkin
#57. A news organization has a much different responsibility. I might not be telling you the whole story. I might not be telling you a story in a manner that is properly sophisticated.
Aaron Sorkin
#58. There (is) order and even great beauty in what looks like total chaos. If we look closely enough at the randomness around us, patterns will start to emerge.
Aaron Sorkin
#59. I love writing. I'm not particularly comfortable in the actual world - I'm much more comfortable on the page. So if I could have a life where I could just slip the pages under the door and somebody would slip me a meal back, then that would be perfect for me.
Aaron Sorkin
#60. What's interesting, is that I've found that the more accomplished a director is, the more secure they are in giving direction that sounds incredibly unsophisticated.
Aaron Sorkin
#61. If you lined up 10 writers and asked them to write a movie about Steve Jobs, you'd get 10 very different movies.
Aaron Sorkin
#62. A hero would die for his country, but he'd much rather live for it.
Aaron Sorkin
#63. There's that process of writing it - then you come out of your room into the sunlight, and you now have to complete the circuit and make the connection finally with the audience.
Aaron Sorkin
#64. It's nice that HBO is in business with the audience and not with the advertisers. There's a difference.
Aaron Sorkin
#65. You are like seven of the strangest women I have ever met.
Aaron Sorkin
#66. Roxy Sorkin, your father just won the Academy Award. I'm going to have to insist on some respect from your guinea pig.
Aaron Sorkin
#67. All my heroes wore coats and ties to work. What happened to men wearing hats? Maybe I should bring back hats.
Aaron Sorkin
#68. I want to convey that I'm crazy about the Kardashians - but I'm not sure which is which.
Aaron Sorkin
#69. If you feel that strongly about something, you have an obligation to try and change my mind.
Aaron Sorkin
#70. It seems to me that more and more we've come to expect less and less from each other, and I think that should change.
Aaron Sorkin
#71. We live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns.
Aaron Sorkin
#72. I'm a registered Republican, I only seem liberal because I believe that hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure and not gay marriage.
Aaron Sorkin
#73. Toby: All right. It couldn't have gone far, right?
Sam: No.
Toby: Somewhere in this building ... is our talent.
Aaron Sorkin
#74. The Internet, in general, I find troubling. The anonymity has made us all meaner and dumber. This thing that was supposed to bring us closer together, I see it doing the opposite.
Aaron Sorkin
#75. If I am writing a movie and I am stuck, I can call the studio and tell them it's delayed. You can't do that with television - you have air dates to meet.
Aaron Sorkin
#76. But HBO is less interested in how many people are watching than in how much the people who are watching are liking the show. They didn't set up their business model to make writers happy. It's just a nice unintended consequence.
Aaron Sorkin
#77. As a dramatist, you're looking for points of friction ...
Aaron Sorkin
#78. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.
Aaron Sorkin
#79. There have been times - and not just on 'The Newsroom,' but on 'The West Wing,' 'Sports Night,' 'Studio 60' ... - where it was hard to look the cast and crew in the eye, when I put a script on the table that I knew just wasn't good enough.
Aaron Sorkin
#80. I think socializing on the Internet is to socializing what reality TV is to reality.
Aaron Sorkin
#81. I think it's up to writers to write stuff that is compelling enough that people want to watch.
Aaron Sorkin
#82. It's important to remember that, first and foremost, if not only, this is entertainment. 'The West Wing' isn't meant to be good for you.
Aaron Sorkin
#83. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an actor. I was acting in all the school plays. I went to school for acting. I was really sure that that's what I wanted to do.
Aaron Sorkin
#84. Film doesn't have to worry. Movies are awesome. There's no war going on, theaters aren't going to lose.
Aaron Sorkin
#85. Perhaps something like Facebook couldn't have been invented by somebody who goes out five nights a week and has a ton of friends and makes friends really easily.
Aaron Sorkin
#86. Whether it's 'The West Wing' or anything else, my first thought is always, 'What's a good story?'
Aaron Sorkin
#87. Our responsibility is to captivate you for however long we've asked for your attention. That said, there is tremendous drama to be gotten from the great, what you would say, heavy issues.
Aaron Sorkin
#88. Heroes in drama are people who try hard to reach a virtuous ideal. And whether they succeed or fail really doesn't matter - it's the trying that counts.
Aaron Sorkin
#89. We're about to shoot an episode on Air Force One, for instance, and we're going to take liberties, small liberties, with Air Force One, as we take small liberties with our White House set.
Aaron Sorkin
#90. I get the 'The New York Times' and 'Los Angeles Times' thrown at my door every morning. I'll read the front page of 'The New York Times,' then the op-eds, then scan the arts section and then the sports section. Then I do the same with the 'L.A. Times.'
Aaron Sorkin
#91. I am uncomfortable talking about the things that I write. It seems unseemly to me. I have no problem at all when I see anybody else talking about the same project, but I feel my work should speak for itself.
Aaron Sorkin
#92. I don't believe there are two sides to every argument. I think the facts are the center. And watching the news abandon the facts in favor of 'fairness' is what's troubling to me.
Aaron Sorkin
#93. There are television critics, movie critics, and theater critics too who I like and who I follow and I get genuinely bummed when they don't like something that I've written because I usually agree with them.
Aaron Sorkin
#94. Any time you get two people in a room who disagree about anything, the time of day, there is a scene to be written. That's what I look for.
Aaron Sorkin
#95. Television is a visual medium. You have to create some kind of visual interest. And it's entertainment for your eyes.
Aaron Sorkin
#96. The stuff that I write doesn't work very well as background music. You have to watch it from beginning to end and pay attention as if you were watching a play.
Aaron Sorkin
#97. Humans know when it's not a good story. Unless you do this for a living, you may not know exactly why you don't like a story, but you can't fool an audience ever. They know when you have it and they know when you don't.
Aaron Sorkin
#98. A song in a musical works best when a character has to sing - when words won't do the trick anymore. The same idea applies to a long speech in a play or a movie or on television. You want to force the character out of a conversational pattern.
Aaron Sorkin
#99. There really isn't a story that you can't tell inside of it. It's very much a clearinghouse for anything that goes on in the world. So you're not at all limited.
Aaron Sorkin
#100. I don't have a great instrument. I don't have the kind of ungodly control over my voice and body that great actors have. And I've worked with enough great actors to know that I'm not one.
Aaron Sorkin
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