Aaron Sorkin Quotes & Sayings

Elite is not a bad word, it's an aspirational one — Aaron Sorkin

They beat up on a weakling, and that's all they did. The rest is smoke-filled, coffee-house crap. They tortured and tormented a weaker kid. And it wasn't just that night. Read the letters, it was eight months. And you know what? I'll bet it was his whole life. They beat him up, and they killed him. And why? Because he couldn't run very fast. I'm off duty now, don't ask me to be pals with these guys. — Aaron Sorkin

When you're writing a movie or a play and writing isn't going well, which is for me the normal condition - it's an exceptional day when suddenly I've got something and it's going well - you can call the studio or the producer or whoever is waiting for it and say, I know I said I was going to have it in by the end of the summer. — Aaron Sorkin

'Steve Jobs' is my seventh movie. I believe, if you added them up, I don't think there is more than a total of 10 minutes that takes place in a person's home. They're all in offices, courtrooms, laboratories, things like that. — Aaron Sorkin

If you feel that strongly about something, you have an obligation to try and change my mind. — Aaron Sorkin

The rules are all in a sixty-four-page pamphlet by Aristotle called 'Poetics.' It was written almost three thousand years ago, but I promise you, if something is wrong with what you're writing, you've probably broken one of Aristotle's rules. — Aaron Sorkin

If you close your eyes you can imagine the hackers sitting in a room, combing through the documents to find the ones that will draw the most blood. And in a room next door are American journalists doing the same thing. As demented and criminal as it is, at least the hackers are doing it for a cause. The press is doing it for a nickel. — Aaron Sorkin

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

I spend most of my days pacing around, muttering that I have no ideas, feeling like I'm walking a plank. — Aaron Sorkin

When I was starting out, William Goldman took me under his wing, and he's still the person I show pages to. — Aaron Sorkin

I'm more comfortable writing traditional protagonists. But 'Steve Jobs' and 'The Social Network' have antiheroes. I like to write antiheroes as if they're making their case to God about why they should be allowed into heaven. I have to find something in that character that is like me and write to that. — Aaron Sorkin

Don't tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing. — Aaron Sorkin

I've never written anything that I haven't wanted to write again. I want to, and still am, writing 'A Few Good Men' again. I didn't know what I was doing then, and I'm still trying to get it right. I would write 'The Social Network' again if they would let me, I'd write 'Moneyball' again. I would write 'The West Wing' again. — Aaron Sorkin

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

The rules of drama are very much separate from the properties of life. I think that's especially true of Shakespeare. — Aaron Sorkin

The real problem with all drugs is that they work. Fantastically. They're great, right up until the moment they kill you. — Aaron Sorkin

It's one thing to be asked to respect someone else's religion. It's another to be asked to respect their taboos. — Aaron Sorkin

Film doesn't have to worry. Movies are awesome. There's no war going on, theaters aren't going to lose. — Aaron Sorkin

TOBY: The world can move or not by changing some words. — Aaron Sorkin

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

The upside of web-based journalism is that everybody gets a chance. The downside is that everybody gets a chance. — Aaron Sorkin

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

First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. — Aaron Sorkin

It's an election year. We would prefer that voters didn't use common sense. — Aaron Sorkin

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

I think it's up to writers to write stuff that is compelling enough that people want to watch. — Aaron Sorkin

I'll get cast occasionally as sort of the jerk version of myself, and I have fun doing that. But it's really better for everyone if I stay behind the camera. — Aaron Sorkin

I'm crazy about 'Breaking Bad,' but I wouldn't know how to write an episode of it. — Aaron Sorkin

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

I think that if I couldn't write, I would be unemployable. — Aaron Sorkin

You know, one of the things I like about this world, or at least I like about the way we're presenting this world, is these issues are terribly complicated - not nearly as black and white as we're led to believe. — Aaron Sorkin

Toby Zeigler: There's literally no one in the world I don't hate right now. — Aaron Sorkin

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

Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep can play with the boys but there just aren't that many tour-de-force roles out there for women, — Aaron Sorkin

Decisions are made by those who show up — Aaron Sorkin

Honestly, I don't try to guess at what most people want. I don't think I'd guess right, and I just think that that's not a good recipe for storytelling. I try to write what I like, what I think my friends would like. — Aaron Sorkin

I'm not sophisticated when it comes to politics, when it comes to journalism. — Aaron Sorkin

The greater fool is actually an economic term. It's a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool - someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools. — Aaron Sorkin

Oratory should raise your heart rate. Oratory should blow the doors off the place. — Aaron Sorkin

My parents took me to see plays, starting from when I was very little. Oftentimes, I was too young to understand. I don't know what my parents were thinking - 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' when I was eight years old, that kind of thing. So lots of times, I didn't understand what was going on, but I just loved the sound of dialogue. — Aaron Sorkin

I feel like the better version of myself is on paper ... I'd rather have people know me on paper. — Aaron Sorkin

Never argue with a drunk or a fool. — Aaron Sorkin

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

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

A friend is somebody who says the same things to your face that they would say if you're not in the room. — Aaron Sorkin

Develop your own compass, and trust it. Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt. — Aaron Sorkin

Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them. — Aaron Sorkin

When I create a TV show, it's so that I can write it. I'm not an empire builder; my writing staff is usually a combination of two kinds of people - experts in the world the show is set in, and young writers who will not be unhappy if they're not writing scripts. — Aaron Sorkin

In that moment, Dan was reminded why he wanted to write in the first place. It was the same reason anybody does anything
to impress women.
(Jeremy Goodwin, Sports Night) — Aaron Sorkin

I would love for people to think that I am as quick, clever, smart and heroic as the characters that I write, but those characters are characters. — Aaron Sorkin

I'm a playwright. All I care about is the play being good. — Aaron Sorkin

I'm not on Facebook, and I don't tweet, but I know plenty of people who love both. — Aaron Sorkin

We live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. — Aaron Sorkin

When I feel that something I'm writing is going well, everything in my life is good and the things in my life that aren't good are completely manageable. If it's not going well, Miss America could be standing there in a swimsuit handing me a nobel price and I wouldn't be happy about it — Aaron Sorkin

I've loved every minute I've spent in television. And I've had much more failure, as traditionally measured, than success in television. I've done four shows, and only one of them was the 'West Wing.' — Aaron Sorkin

It's nice that HBO is in business with the audience and not with the advertisers. There's a difference. — Aaron Sorkin

When I wrote 'The West Wing,' the juice behind it was that in popular culture, our leaders in government are generally portrayed as Machiavellian, or as idiots. I thought, well, how about writing about a group of hyper-competent people? — Aaron Sorkin

Not all paintings are abstract; they're not all Jackson Pollock. There's value in a photograph of a man alone on a boat at sea, and there is value in painting of a man alone on a boat at sea. In the painting, the painting has more freedom to express an idea, more latitude in being able to elicit certain emotion. — Aaron Sorkin

I consider plot a necessary intrusion on what I really want to do, which is write snappy dialogue. — Aaron Sorkin

Rule of storytelling: When a character is shoved against a wall, shove them against a wall harder. — Aaron Sorkin

Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes. We need gigantic revolutionary changes ... Competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be getting six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge for its citizens, just like national defense.
Sam Seaborne, West Wing — Aaron Sorkin

Music is what mathematics does on a Saturday night. — Aaron Sorkin

Conflict, when used as a device, makes for good television and bad journalism. — Aaron Sorkin

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

When we were doing 'The West Wing,' the hardest thing about doing 'The West Wing' was being compared to yourself. You go out there and want every episode to be as good as your best episode. I wrote 88 episodes of 'The West Wing,' and when you do that, one of them is going to be your 88th best, so your 88th best better be pretty good. — Aaron Sorkin

Don't try to guess what it is people want and give it to them. Don't ask for a show of hands. Try your best to write what you like, what you think your friends would like and what you think your father would like and then cross your fingers ... The most valuable thing you have is your own voice. — Aaron Sorkin

The properties of people and the properties of character have almost nothing to do with each other. They really don't. I know it seems like they do because we look alike, but people don't speak in dialogue. Their lives don't unfold in a series of scenes that form a narrative arc. — Aaron Sorkin

I do not speak through my characters; it's not a ventriloquist act. — Aaron Sorkin

Whether it's 'The West Wing' or anything else, my first thought is always, 'What's a good story?' — Aaron Sorkin

You are like seven of the strangest women I have ever met. — Aaron Sorkin

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

Just to clarify the division of labor on the show, I write the show and Alan [Poul] does everything else. — Aaron Sorkin

As a dramatist, you're looking for points of friction ... — Aaron Sorkin

With 'The Social Network,' I got into it at first because frankly I thought there was a cool courtroom drama to be had with the intellectual properties. And then what further drew me in was that the most extraordinary social networking device ever created was created by the world's most antisocial person. I liked that story. — Aaron Sorkin

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

My resting pulse as a writer is writing idealistically and romantically; aspirationally. My taste lies in quixotic heroes. — Aaron Sorkin

You trashed the law. But we understand. You're permitted. You have a greater responsibility than we can possibly fathom. You provide us with a blanket of freedom. We live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns, and nothing's gonna stand in your way of doing it. Not Willy Santiago, not Dawson and Downey, not a thousand armies, not the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and not the Constitution of the United States. That's the truth, isn't it Colonel? I can handle it. — Aaron Sorkin

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

I am all for everyone having a voice; I just don't think everyone has earned the microphone. And that's what the Internet has done. — Aaron Sorkin

President Bartlet:
There's a delegation of cardiologists having their pictures taken in the Blue Room. You wouldn't think you could find a group of people more arrogant than the fifteen of us, but there they are, right upstairs in the Blue Room. — Aaron Sorkin

Certainly, last year we did an episode about the census and sampling versus a direct statistic. You just said the word 'census,' and people fall asleep. — Aaron Sorkin

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

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

When I write something, I want the best director to direct it. And that's not going to be me. So when David Fincher comes along and wants to direct 'The Social Network,' when Bennett Miller comes along and wants to direct 'Moneyball,' or when Danny Boyle wants to direct 'Jobs'? Hallelujah. I want them directing it. — Aaron Sorkin

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

There are no Asian movie stars — Aaron Sorkin

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

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

I can't remember my dreams more than a couple of seconds after I wake up. It's frustrating because sometimes I dream that I'm watching a really good movie. — Aaron Sorkin

Tell me what you think and then tell me what the really smart person in the room who disagrees with you thinks. — Aaron Sorkin

You can't handle the truth . You can't handle the sad but historic reality. — Aaron Sorkin

And a wheat thin the size of Lake Tahoe. — Aaron Sorkin

DONNA: She said she knew it in her heart. Do you know how many times I've been wrong about things I knew in my heart? — Aaron Sorkin

An artist's job is to captivate ... if we stumble into truth, we got lucky. — Aaron Sorkin

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

I think socializing on the Internet is to socializing what reality TV is to reality. — Aaron Sorkin

I think mostly about intention and obstacle somebody wants something somethings standing in their way of getting it. — Aaron Sorkin

Well, I must tell you I write the scripts very close to the bone. So I'm writing episode seven now and couldn't tell you what happens in episode eight. — Aaron Sorkin

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

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