David Geffen Quotes

I was sleeping on a couch in my brothers apartment, and one day this guy walked over and said ‘How would you like to be in a movie?’ And I said ‘Yeah!’ I was an extra in ‘Explosive Generation’.

[On his first job in the mailroom of William Morris a casting agency] It was the first time in the my life that I thought ‘I can do that.’

I believe we’re all in denial about the people we love.

I don’t care what their [Guns N’ Roses] record is. If you need a blood donor and the only person who can give you a transfusion is Hitler, you take the blood.

Asking me to come work here is the dumbest idea you ever had. It has been a waste of a year.

Before you talk to people in music or entertainment or video games, or even gun control, you need to talk to psychiatrists.

If you’re successful, people will talk about you. There’s nothing you can do about it. People make up stories.

[On Lou Adler] Lou really had a production deal called a label, whereas we had a real label. We had a great many artists, whereas he had very few. Lou also produced most of the stuff that came out on Ode. We were not producers.

I quickly figured out [that] the one ability I’d better have is to create relationships.

Starting a new studio was a thrilling challenge, but it was more stressful than fun. I never took a salary, a bonus or expenses. I learned never to do anything you’re not passionate about.

It’s terribly unfair that we should have to suffer like this.

I have no talent except for being able to enjoy and recognize it in others.

I’m a great believer in anything that makes you 1 percent better. So I try everything. Freudian. Jungian. Est. Life Spring. Course in Miracles. Twelve Steps. I have pain from time to time. I have joy from time to time.

My mother was an entrepreneur… She found being on relief humiliating. She built this business from scratch… In 1951 my mother opened this store…

I’ve earned all this money. I’ve worked for it. I didn’t cheat anybody. I didn’t issue junk bonds and put people out of work. I earned it. And I live relatively modestly given my level of success and wealth.

You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about! You’re crazy!

I buy my clothes at J.Crew online. I’m a very casual guy.

[On being partners with Laura Nyro in Tuna Fish Music (Laura’s favorite food was Tuna Fish)] We became partners in this new publishing company.

Oh please. A Gay Mafia? This is so crazy. This is insane. I think he needs a psychiatrist. It’s so paranoid, and so crazy, and so irresponsible, and makes him look like such a nut. It’s beyond crazy. On a scale of 1 to 10 crazy, it’s 11… He’s made a fool of himself, and he’s made a huge failure of his life. To say you’ve been brought down by the Gay Mafia and its allies is as crazy as anything I’ve ever heard in my life… Did I mention his extraordinary homophobia?

When I go to see Iron Man 3, I’m not as enthralled as I was when I saw The Bridge on the River Kwai.

This Velvet Mafia thing is just another homophobic, nasty kind of thing that jealous queens make up.