20th-century Playwright Quotes

Bertolt Brecht

Samuel Beckett

Kurt Vonnegut

Václav Havel

Harold Pinter

Arthur Miller

Graham Greene

Misery's fine - as long as you know you can get out of it when you want to.

There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way. No day but today!

Jonathan Larson

Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.

Adrian Mitchell

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is at their heels.

That just ain't cricket, is it dear?
Or they may say, and it will be true,
Britain does not rule the waves
She simply waives the bloody rules!

The time to make your mind up about people, is never.

Art for art's sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.

When I'm telling you something don't you ever ask if I'm lying. Because they didn't want to leave no evidence of what they done—so it couldn't be held against them And I'm leaving evidence. And you got to leave evidence too. And your children got to leave evidence. And when it come time to hold up the evidence, we got to have evidence to hold up.

With an effort Ewing turned his gaze away from the far end of the bar. Slowly he spread out his hands on the table and examined them. Then he looked up at Wayne. His left eyelid had begun to quiver slightly like a leaf in a gentle breeze as he put the question, but the expression of his face remained unchanged. "Who's the new customer?" Ewing asked indolently.

Wait for me and I'll return…
Only you and I know how I survived.
It's because you waited as no one else did.

Konstantin Simonov

A man and his dog is a sacred relationship. What nature hath put together let no woman put asunder.

At first it's pretty cool: the limitless fruit of knowledge hanging low in your path. Then you realize it's the only thing to eat around here.

Just because you're living in blissful oblivion doesn't mean you're not responsible.

Arthur M. Jolly

The love that previously dared not speak its name has now grown hoarse from screaming it.

Robert Brustein

You emerge from tragedy equipped against lies. After the musical, you're anybody's fool

The poor tread lightest upon the earth. The higher our income, the more resources we control and the more havoc we wreak.

Confidence is a static state. Determination is active. Determination allows for doubt and for humility - both of which are critical in the world today. There is so much that we don't know, and so much that we know we don't know. To be overly confident or without doubt seems silly to me. Determination, on the other hand, is a commitment to win, a commitment to fight the good fight.

Anna Deavere Smith

You coulda been a singer, Ma. Play Vegas. And I'd write ya spicy songs to slither out of your throat like barracudas.

Fame is something different from popularity. It is less demanding for a start and has more to do with talent than virtue. But not even much to do with talent.

Now is a time for, dare I say it, kindness. I thought being extremely smart would take care of it. But I see I have been found out.

To improve man - that's the beginning of all terror. Religion founders, totalitarians, self-righteous playwrights, ideologues, they always want the new man, the better one.

Poetry is road maintenance for a fragmented world which seeks to be kept together. It's been an integral activity for a long time.

The press and politicians. A delicate relationship. Too close, and danger ensues. Too far apart and democracy itself cannot function without the essential exchange of information. Creative leaks, a discreet lunch, interchange in the Lobby, the art of the unattributable telephone call, late at night.

Life is a banquet, and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death.

Jerome Lawrence

I have always considered it despicable to grovel for your life as if life were a favor. If you cannot live the way you want, there is no point in living

Reinaldo Arenas