- Good
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
Aaron Sorkin Quotes
Most Famous Aaron Sorkin Quotes of All Time!
We have created a collection of some of the best aaron-sorkin quotes so you can read and share anytime with your friends and family. Share our Top 10 Aaron Sorkin Quotes on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
- Last Updated on Jul 31, 2026
- Good
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Alone
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Me
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Me
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Doing
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
While I was doing 'The Newsroom,' I always had the news on on different networks on different TVs around my house and around my office.
- First Thing
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
The first thing I wrote was a one-act play that got accepted at a one-act play festival, and I was in it along with Nathan Lane and a couple of other very good actors.
- Camera
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Nov 07, 2020
I consider plot a necessary intrusion on what I really want to do, which is write snappy dialogue.
- Great
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Eyes
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
Television is a visual medium. You have to create some kind of visual interest. And it's entertainment for your eyes.
- Government
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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?
- Fun
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
I am truly at my happiest not when I am writing an aria for an actor or making a grand political or social point. I am at my happiest when I've figured out a fun way for somebody to slip on a banana peel.
- Control
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Me
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Feeling
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
I'm very physical. When I'm writing, I'm playing all the parts; I'm saying the lines out loud, and if I get excited about something - which doesn't happen very often when I'm writing, but it's the greatest feeling when it does - I'll be out of the chair and walking around, and if I'm at home, I'll find myself two blocks from my house.
- Loved
- |
- Nov 07, 2020
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.'
- Me
- |
- Nov 07, 2020