The poet, the dramatist, the novelist are free to exercise their imagination as widely as they choose. But the historian may not b...e allowed so long a tether. He must fulfill his function as creative artist only within very rigid limits. He cannot invent what went on in the mind of St. Thomas of Canterbury. The poet can. He cannot suppress inconvenient minor characters and invent others who more significantly underline the significance of his theme. The novelist can. The dramatist can. The historian, as Sir Phillip Sydney has said, "is captive to the truth of a foolish world." Not only is he captive to the truth of a foolish world, but he is captive to a truth he can never fully discover, and yet he is forbidden by his conscience and his training from inventing it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Has anyone ever told you that you overplay your various roles rather severely, Mr. Kaplan? First you're the outraged Madison Avenu...e man who claims he's been mistaken for someone else. Then you play the fugitive from justice, supposedly trying to clear his name of a crime he knows he didn't commit. And now you play the peevish lover stung by jealously and betrayal. It seems to me you fellows could stand a little less training from the FBI and a little more from the Actors Studio.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Professor: War is hell, Mr. Thornhill, even if it's just a cold one. Roger Thornhill: If you fellows can't lick the Vandamms ...of this world without asking girls like her to bed down with them, and fly away with them, and probably never come back, perhaps you ought to start learning how to lose a few cold wars. Professor: I'm afraid we're already doing that.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Roger Thornhill: Has life been like that? Eve Kendall: Uhm mm.... Roger Thornhill: How come? Eve Kendall: Men like you. Roger Thornhill: What's wrong with men like me? Eve Kendall: They don't believe in marriage. Roger Thornhill: I've been married twice. Eve Kendall: See what I mean?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I didn't realize you were an art collector. I thought you just collected corpses. I'll bet you paid plenty for this little piece o...f sculpture. She's worth every dollar of it, take it from me. She puts her heart into her work, in fact, her whole body.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I wonder what subtle form of manslaughter is next on the program. Am I to be dropped into a vat of molten steel and become part of... a new skyscraper, or are you going to ask this female to kiss me again and poison me to death?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you--it would make life ...easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »