“My Dinner With Andre” quotes

“Has it ever occurred to you Wally that the process that creates this boredom that we see in the world now may very well be a self-perpetuating, unconscious form of brainwashing, created by a world totalitarian government based on money, and that all of this is much more dangerous than one thinks? And it's not just a question of individual...” (continue)(continue reading)
Himself - Andre Gregory

“They've built their own prison, so they exist a state of schizophrenia. They're both guards and prisoners and as a result they no longer have, having been lobotomized, the capacity to leave the prison they've made, or to even see it as a prison.”
Himself - Andre Gregory

“Things don't affect people the way they used to. I mean it may very well be that 10 years from now people will pay $10,000 in cash to be castrated just in order to be affected by something.”
Himself - Andre Gregory

Do you know, in Sanskrit the root of the verb "to be" is the same as "to grow" or "to make grow".
Himself - Andre Gregory

“A baby holds your hands, and then suddenly, there's this huge man lifting you off the ground, and then he's gone. Where's that son?”
Himself - Andre Gregory

“I've lived in this city all my life. I grew up on the Upper East Side. And when I was ten years old, I was rich, I was an aristocrat. Riding around in taxis, surrounded by comfort, and all I thought about was art and music. Now, I'm 36, and all I think about is money.”
Wallace Shawn - Wallace Shawn

“I wouldn't put on an electric blanket on for anything. First, I'd be worried I might get electrocuted. No, I don't trust technology. But I mean, the main thing, Wally, is that I think that kind of comfort just separates you from reality in a very direct way.”
Himself - Andre Gregory

“- Andre Gregory: Our minds are just focused on these goals and plans, which in themselves are not reality.
- Wallace Shawn: Goals and plans are not... they're fantasy. They're part of a dream-life.”
Himself - Andre Gregory
Wallace Shawn - Wallace Shawn

“That trip is going to be successful or unsuccessful based on the state of the airplane and the state of the pilot, and the cookie is in no position to know about that.”

Wallace Shawn - Wallace Shawn

“What does it do to us, Wally, living in an environment where something as massive as the seasons or winter or cold, don't in any way affect us? I mean, were animals after all. I mean... what does that mean? I think that means that instead of living under the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars, we're living in a fantasy world of our own...” (continue)(continue reading)
Himself - Andre Gregory

“I was beginning to realize that the only way to make this evening bearable, would be to ask Andre a few questions. Asking questions always relaxes me. In fact, I sometimes think that my secret profession is that I'm a private investigator, a detective. I always enjoy finding out about people. Even if they are in absolute agony, I always find it...” (continue)(continue reading)

Himself - Wallace Shawn

“I rode home through the city streets. There wasn't a street, there wasn't a building, that wasn't connected to some memory in my mind. There, I was buying a suit with my father. There, I was having an ice cream soda after school.”
Wallace Shawn - Wallace Shawn

“We can't be direct, so we end up saying the weirdest things.”
Himself - Andre Gregory

“The life of a playwright is tough. It's not easy as some people seem to think. You work hard writing plays and nobody puts them on. You take up other lines of work to try to make a living. You became an actor and people don't hire you. So, you just spend your days doing the errands of your trade.”
Wallace Shawn - Wallace Shawn