Daily Inspiration Quote by Samuel Goldwyn

Goldwyn’s line is a one-sentence demolition of Hollywood romance about trust. The joke lands because it’s built like a legal maxim and then wrecks itself: a verbal contract has no paper, so the insult folds into a self-own. That’s the point. In an industry where everyone swears they’re “good for it,” he exposes how quickly sincerity turns into strategy once money, credit, or a release date enters the room.

As a producer, Goldwyn lived at the fault line between artistry and commerce, where promises are currency and ambiguity is leverage. The quip doubles as a warning and a flex. Warning: if you’re naïve enough to rely on a handshake, you deserve what happens next. Flex: I’ve been around long enough to know the game, and I’m not losing a deal because someone’s feelings got involved.

The subtext is less “get everything in writing” than “assume incentives will change.” It’s a producer’s worldview, forged in endless negotiations with stars, directors, and studios: today’s enthusiasm becomes tomorrow’s selective memory. By wrapping that cynicism in a paradox, Goldwyn makes hard-nosed pragmatism feel like wisdom rather than mistrust.

Context matters, too. Goldwyn came up in an era when Hollywood was professionalizing fast, shifting from informal relationships to contracts, guilds, and lawyers. His line is the sound of that transition: a wry epitaph for the handshake era, and a reminder that in the dream factory, the only fantasy you shouldn’t buy is the promise.