“Good writing excites me, and makes life worth living.”

“No one wanted me to be a conscientious objector. My parents certainly didn't want it. My teacher and mentor, Joe Brearley, didn't want it. My friends didn't want it. I was alone.”

“I mean, don't forget the earth's about five thousand million years old, at least. Who can afford to live in the past?”

“I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.”

“I don't intend to simply go away and write my plays and be a good boy. I intend to remain an independent and political intelligence in my own right.”

“All I'm saying is that there are many different kinds of political theatre and many plays I greatly admire: 'Antigone,' 'Mother Courage,' 'All My Sons.' But, if I tackle a political theme, I have t...”

“There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened.”

“The stories people tell you about themselves seem to retain the possibility of being false. But what you discover about them by yourself seems to be the truth.”

“Those suffering from terminal falsehood seek out each other, like a drunk seeks out a wall so that he doesn't fall down.”

“pride was i was fine simple causeto be focus of the man who loved many sources those werehis focus . i lived in falsehood likean unknown and loved him all alone”

“You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth.”

“Lies are neither bad nor good. Like a fire they can either keep you warm or burn you to death, depending on how they're used.”

“But who can remember pain, once its over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.”

“I know what you are learning to endure. There is nothing to be done. Make sure nothing is wasted. Take notes. Remember it all, every insult, every tear. Tattoo it on the inside of your mind. In lif...”

“My mind, I know, I can prove, hovers on hummingbird wings. It hovers and it churns. And when it's operating at full thrust, the churning does not stop. The machines do not rest, the systems rarely ...”