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A playwright has a responsibility in his society not to aid it, or comfort it, but to comment and criticize it.

Edward Albee

Your source material is the people you know, not those you don’t know, but every character is an extension of the author’s own personality.
EDWARD ALBEE

Author Character Extension Material People Personality Source Yourself
Writing has got to be an act of discovery. Finding out things about what one is writing about.
EDWARD ALBEE

Act Discovery Finding Oneself Writing
One must let the play happen to one; one must let the mind loose to respond as it will, to receive impressions, to sense rather than know, to gather rather than immediately understand.
EDWARD ALBEE

Lose Mindset Oneself Play Respond Understand
The act of creation, as you very well know, is a lonely and private matter and has nothing to do with the public area… the performance of the work one creates.
EDWARD ALBEE

Act Creation Lonely Oneself Performance Privacy
The most profound indication of social malignancy no sense of humor. None of the monoliths could take a joke.
EDWARD ALBEE

Humor Joke Social
The function of art is to bring people into greater touch with reality, and yet our movie houses and family rooms are jammed with people after as much reality-removal as they can get.
EDWARD ALBEE

Function Greatness Movie Ourselves People Touch
The arts are the only things that separate us from the other animals. The arts are not decorative. They are essential to our comprehension of consciousness and ourselves.
EDWARD ALBEE

Animal Art Conscious Decorative Essential Ourselves Separate
The act of writing is an act of optimism. You would not take the trouble to do it if you felt that it didn’t matter.
EDWARD ALBEE

Act Feeling Optimism Trouble Writing Yourself
In a democracy you cannot stop public access to that art that will most misinform the people. You cannot stop people from being misinformed. But what you can do is to educate the people to the point that they will throw the rascals out.
EDWARD ALBEE

Access Democracy Information People Point Public Stop Yourself
Every monster was a man first.
EDWARD ALBEE

Man Monster One Liner
One has always got to be terribly careful, since the theater is made up of a whole bunch of prima donnas, not to let the distortions occur.
EDWARD ALBEE

Careful Prevent Terrible Theatre
Why we are here is an impenetrable question.
EDWARD ALBEE

Philosophy Question
When you get old, you can’t talk to people because people snap at you…. That’s why you become deaf, so you won’t be able to hear people talking to you that way.
EDWARD ALBEE

Old People Snap Talk Way Yourself
Anything you put in a play – any speech – has got to do one of two things: either define character or push the action of the play along.
EDWARD ALBEE

Action Definition Oneself Play
Sincerity doesn’t mean anything. A person can be sincere and be more destructive than a person who is insincere.
EDWARD ALBEE

Destruction Person Sincere
A lot interests me – but nothing surprises me particularly.
EDWARD ALBEE

Interest Myself Surprise
I find relatively little relationship between the work of art and the immediate critical response it gets.
EDWARD ALBEE

Art Criticism Finding Myself Relative Response Work
Maybe it’s a little more pertinent now since the whole concept of evolution is being questioned by the know-nothing Republican right. Yes, maybe the play’s a little more pertinent now.
EDWARD ALBEE

Concept Evolution Play Question
I created myself, and I’ll attack anybody I feel like.
EDWARD ALBEE

Attack Creation Feeling Myself
People often ask me how long it takes me to write a play, and I tell them ‘all of my life.’
EDWARD ALBEE

Life Myself People Play Writing
I don’t feel that catharsis in a play necessarily takes place during the course of a play. Often it should take place afterward.
EDWARD ALBEE

Feeling Myself Necessary Place Play
Musical beds is the faculty sport around here.
EDWARD ALBEE

Bed Music Sports
Creativity is magic. Don’t examine it too closely.
EDWARD ALBEE

Close Creativity Examination Magic
If you’re willing to fail interestingly, you tend to succeed interestingly.
EDWARD ALBEE

Failure Inspirational Success Willing Yourself
There is chaos behind the civility, of course.
EDWARD ALBEE

Chaos Civilization
There are always going to be more actors than anybody can ever use.
EDWARD ALBEE

Actor Population
I think I was probably wondering, having looked at human beings for a long time, wondering if evolution ever took place. And I still have my doubts.
EDWARD ALBEE

Doubt Evolution Human Myself Place Thinking Time Wonder

A playwright has a responsibility in his society not to aid it, or comfort it, but to comment and criticize it.

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A playwright has a responsibility in his society not to aid it, or comfort it, but to comment and criticize it.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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