“Mr. Mamet says he’s not interested in writing about himself: ‘My life is a f— bore, I mean, all I do is read, and think and write and hang out with my family.’ If he or one of his kids comes up with a zinger, he likes to get the one-liner emblazened on a T-shirt so he can wear it. Recently, he got one printed with a retort from his son after he asked the boy what it would take to get him to go to bed. The shirt reads: ‘Life is a Harsh Mistress.'”

—“Mamet on Growing Up,” by Ellen Gamerman, The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2010.