By now, most people are aware of Mad Men. If they aren’t obsessed with it, then they at least watch it, and if they don’t watch it (blasphemy!) then they know it exists. But just in case you live under a rock: Mad Men is a television show on AMC based on the “Mad Men” of the 1960′s- a name given to the ad men on Madison Avenue. It’s incredibly funny & dark, and also misogynist, and racist, but then again, this is the early-mid ’60′s. The civil rights movement wasn’t more than just that- a movement, women basically had no rights either, and white rich men ruled everything (not quite sure how things have changed, actually…). The lead character is the ever-dapper & supremely dreamy (albeit sexist, a bit of a dick & not the best father) Don Draper, played excellently by Jon Hamm. Aside from despising his ex-wife Betty & wishing she would just disappear for most of the seasons, I live for any scene he’s in. He’s got a dry sense of humor and some of the best one-liners on the show. If I was a guy, I’d wanna be Don Draper, for sure. Or at least a mix of him & Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt’s character) from Ocean’s Eleven.

What? I’m an asshole. I’d make a great Don Draper.

Anyway, occasionally, his one-liners or little monologues are so good they’re worth jotting down. And sometimes, even living by. So that’s what this is… the wisdom of Don Draper, or Dick Whittman (watch the show, people, watch the freakin’ show). Just a small collection of quotes I like, or find to be food for thought.

 

“Mourning is just extended self-pity.”

“People tell you who they are, but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be.”

“You want some respect? Go out there and get it for yourself. “

“It’s your life. You don’t know how long it’s gonna last, but you know it doesn’t end well. You’ve gotta move forward… as soon as you can figure out what that means. “

“If you don’t like the conversation, change it.”

“It wasn’t a lie, it was ineptitude with insufficient cover.”

“People may see things differently, but they don’t really want to.”

“Now that I can finally understand you, I am less impressed with what you have to say.”

“Nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, “nostalgia” literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It let’s us travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved.”

“I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie, there is no system, the universe is indifferent.”

“[And]… You know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay.”