Charlie Kaufman Quotes

You have to put yourself in my shoes as a person who believes in radical truth and in being radically transparent, not in seeing things through somebody else's eyes.

If I were less than honest as a critic, I think people would spot that right away, and it would destroy my credibility.

One of the hardest things for me, now that I'm famous, is finding people who can read my stuff and give me an honest critique.

It becomes obvious when people are sincere in their criticism and when they're not. I've learned over time that people will always have something to say.

I think, in some ways, I like it when people tell me what they're thinking. I would rather have it that way than masquerade as if you're totally unbiased and objective.

The truth is overrated.

I'm just going to speak the truth and if people like it or don't, it's the truth.

I always try to write from a genuine standpoint.

I'm not changing any of my opinions or what I'm saying about a product in a video based on my relationship with the company… When they release a product, my job is to be honest and deliver what people want to see and what people need to hear.

Express a mean opinion of yourself occasionally; it will show your friends that you know how to tell the truth.

I'm always open, and will criticize myself, too. And I just think being that honest with everybody puts you in a different space than somebody who's just shooting venom at a certain group or a certain amount of individuals.

My life and work have been far from free of blemish, and so I think it would be unpardonable for a biographer not to dish up the dirt.

I don't really care what people think about me if they don't let me see it.

First tell the truth, then give your opinion.

Maybe the hardest thing in writing is simply to tell the truth about things as we see them.

I don't think there's such a thing as the greatest of all time or the greatest in the world.

I like groaning. That means that you're not pandering to their already settled prejudices.

I have written letters that are failures, but I have written few, I think, that are lies. Trying to reach a person means asking the same question over and over again: Is this the truth, or not? I begin this letter to you, then, in the western tradition. If I understand it, the western tradition is: Put your cards on the table.

From the writer's point of view, critics should be ignored, although it's hard not to do what they suggest. I think it's unfortunate to have critics for friends. Suppose you write something that stinks, what are they going to say in a review? Say it stinks? So if they're honest, they do, and if you were friends you're still friends, but the knowledge of your lousy writing and their articulate admission of it will be always something between the two of you, like the knowledge between a man and his wife of some shady adultery.

If you want to be seen as courageous by some and hated by others, just say what you really think.

When people disagreed with him he urged them to be objective.

I give my opinion not as being good, but as being my own.

Transparency is the new objectivity.

Authenticity resonates with people. The industry can be very misleading and is built to make people believe what they see. But people aren't dumb they can see through that and I think real music and real people resonate.

I think social media has allowed the players to be able to say things that maybe didn't come out right the first time and say what they really meant. I think that it keeps people fair and honest.