Citations

I've redone plays of mine and made changes. A play is a living thing, and I'd never say I wouldn't rewrite years later. Tennessee Williams did that all the time and it's distressing, because I'd like the play to be out there in its finished form. And then you also have new interpretations. At the same time, you do realize how much you are at the mercy of your interpreters.

I'd always write a play that would be successful and critically accepted. I'm always surprised at the reaction, good or bad. The last few years, critics have, on the whole, been very kind to me, but in writing I can't think about commercial things. It'd be the wrong end of the stick, so to speak. I've lived long enough to know things go in and out of fashion, and things not well received now can be totally reversed years later.

I believe very deeply in the human spirit, and I have a sense of awe about it. I look around and ask, What makes the difference? What is it? I've known people the world has thrown everything at-to discourage them, to kill them, to break their spirit. And yet something about them retains a dignity. They face life and they don't ask quarters.

I'm a social writer in the sense that I want to record, but not in the sense of trying to change people's minds.

I can't get over the fact that I can go into many places in New York, and people know who I am. I never really know who I am myself. I'm impressed by that.