Aaron Sorkin quotes

Aaron Sorkin is an acclaimed American screenwriter, playwright, and producer, known for his rapid-fire dialogue and sharp wit. His works include iconic films and TV series such as "The West Wing," "The Social Network," and "A Few Good Men." He is recognized for his influential storytelling style and memorable characters. Here are 30 of his quotes:

I love writing but hate starting. The page is awfully white, and it says, 'You may have fooled some of the people some of the time, but those days are over, giftless. I'm not your agent, and I'm not your mommy; I'm a white piece of paper. You wanna dance with me?' and I really, really don't. I'll go peaceable-like.

Aaron Sorkin

Writing anything, it sorta starts the way you'd build a castle at the beach. You're just taking your hands and you're mounting up sand.

Aaron Sorkin

People who don't know anything tend to make up fake rules, the real rules being considerably more difficult to learn.

Aaron Sorkin

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

Aaron Sorkin

Everything can be going well, but if I'm not writing, I'm not happy. When I'm writing well, I'm like a different person.

Aaron Sorkin

As long as you keep one foot in the real world while the other foot's in a fairy tale, that fairy tale is going to seem kind of attainable.

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

I like writing idealistically, romantically and swashbucklingly.

Aaron Sorkin

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

Aaron Sorkin

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

Decisions are made by those who show up.

Aaron Sorkin

Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.

Aaron Sorkin

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

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

Trying to guess what the (mass) audience wants and then trying to satisfy that is usually a bad recipe for getting something good.

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

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 grew up in the theatre. It's where I got my start. Writing a television drama with theatrical dialogue about the theatre is beyond perfection.

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

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

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

Is it (Sports Night) a comedy or a drama? That's generally not a question I try and answer for myself before I'm going to write something. The example I would use is, if you're driving in your car and you're listening to a rock 'n' roll station on the radio and a song comes on, and in the song you hear elements of jazz and folk and you hear strings in there ... it's not necessary to answer the question, "Is this jazz, is this folk, or is this rock?"

Aaron Sorkin