Archive for October, 2010

William Kennedy

“The trick is to renew your vulnerability. You do your best. The critics either like it or they don’t, but the important thing is to persist.”

Ben Hecht

“Responding to criticism is a foolish thing for a writer to do, and an unpleasant one.  It is much better to read only the advertisements of our work and not, briefly, your royalty reports.  These will tell you how popular you are.  How good you are, or are not, is a thing you should know only too well yourself.”

Bruno Bettelheim

“There is no greater threat in life than that we will be deserted, left all alone.  Psychoanalysis has named this — man’s greatest fear — separation anxiety; and the younger we are, the more excruciating is our anxiety when we feel deserted, for the young child actually perishes when not adequately protected and taken care of.  Therefore, the ultimate consolation is that we shall never be deserted.”

Marsha Norman

“Plays are stories about need.”

Brian Clark

“Someone once said recently, I can’t remember who, ‘The playwright’s spiritual ancestor is not a poet but a juggler.’”