Characters

Don DraperPlayed by Jon Hamm

Mad Men Season 6
Don Draper Quotes »

Don Draper wallowed in newlywed bliss with his beautiful, young second wife, Megan. Believing he had found his ideal partner, Don ignored his business and focused his time and attention on her, only to have his ego shattered when Megan rejected advertising as her career path. After this betrayal, Don refocused on the company, pursuing cornerstone client Jaguar motorcars, bonding with Joan on a drunken escape from the office and ultimately clashing with his partners over their decision to offer up Joan’s virtue in exchange for winning the account. Don’s anger and resentment came to a head when he discovered Lane Pryce embezzling money and fired him from the firm. Then, shaken by Lane’s subsequent suicide, Don forgave Megan for leaving the agency and secured her an acting job on client Butler Shoe’s commercial. The end of the season left Don in a bar, approached by a prospective paramour, pondering the question, "Are you alone?"

Read the Ad Age interview with Don Draper »
View Don Draper's three-year contract for Sterling Cooper from Season 3 »
Video: Don Draper for Season 4 »

 

 

Don Draper Quotes

“Advertising is based on happiness. We make the lie, we invent want.”
Season 1, Episode 1: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
“I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t one.”
Season 1, Episode 1: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
“It wasn’t a lie, it was ineptitude with insufficient cover.”
Season 1, Episode 3: “Marriage of Figaro”
“Mourning is just extended self-pity.”
Season 1, Episode 6: “Babylon”
“I hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.”
Season 1, Episode 7: “The Hobo Code”
“The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them.’”
Season 1, Episode 10: “Long Weekend”
“Just think about it deeply, then forget it…then an idea will jump up in your face.”
Season 1, Episode 11: “Indian Summer”
“You don’t cover for me. You manage people’s expectations.”
Season 2, Episode 3: “The Benefactor”
“Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.”
Season 2, Episode 5: “The New Girl”
“You want to be on vacation Pete? Because I can make that happen.”
Season 2, Episode 11: “The Jet Set”
“There will be fat years and there will be lean years, but it is going to rain.”
Season 3, Episode 1: “Out of Town”
“If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”
Season 3, Episode 2: “Love Among the Ruins”
“Change isn’t good or bad. It just is.”
Season 3, Episode 2: “Love Among the Ruins”
“Maybe I’m late because I was spending time with my family reading the Bible.”
Season 3, Episode 7: “Seven Twenty Three”
“Believe me, Henry, everybody thinks this is temporary.”
Season 4, Episode 1: “Public Relations”
“I don’t hate Christmas, I just hate this Christmas.”
Season 4, Episode 2: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year”
“Why does everybody need to talk about everything?”
Season 4, Episode 5: “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword”
“Peggy, I’m glad this is an environment where you feel free to fail.”
Season 4, Episode 7: “The Suitcase”
“Ida was a hellcat?… Cooper lost his balls?… Roger’s writing a book?”
Season 4, Episode 7: “The Suitcase”
“I should’ve finished high school. Everything could’ve been different.”
Season 4, Episode 8: “The Summer Man”
“You want some respect? Go out and get it for yourself.”
Season 4, Episode 8: “The Summer Man”
“People tell you who they are, but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be.”
Season 4, Episode 8: “The Summer Man”
“We’re flawed because we want so much more. We’re ruined because we get these things and wish for what we had.”
Season 4, Episode 8: “The Summer Man”
“I would have my secretary do it, but she’s dead.”
Season 4, Episode 9: “The Beautiful Girls”
“We’re gonna sit at our desks typing while the walls fall down around us. Because we’re the least important, most important thing there is.”
Season 4, Episode 12: “Blowing Smoke”