I have come to believe ... that the stage may do more than teach, that much of our current moral instruction will not endure the t...est of being cast into a lifelike mold, and when presented in dramatic form will reveal itself as platitudinous and effete. That which may have sounded like righteous teaching when it was remote and wordy will be challenged afresh when it is obliged to simulate life itself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as th...ough plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man's thoughts.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To endow the writer publicly with a good fleshly body, to reveal that he likes dry white wine and underdone steak, is to make even... more miraculous for me, and of a more divine essence, the products of his art. Far from the details of his daily life bringing nearer to me the nature of his inspiration and making it clearer, it is the whole mystical singularity of his condition which the writer emphasizes by such confidences. For I cannot but ascribe to some superhumanity the existence of beings vast enough to wear blue pajamas at the very moment when they manifest themselves as universal conscience.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. D...ancing is poetry with arms and legs.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The real questions are the ones that obtrude upon your consciousness whether you like it or not, the ones that make your mind star...t vibrating like a jackhammer, the ones that you "come to terms with" only to discover that they are still there. The real questions refuse to be placated. They barge into your life at the times when it seems most important for them to stay away. They are the questions asked most frequently and answered most inadequately, the ones that reveal their true natures slowly, reluctantly, most often against your will.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To Nobody, then, will I write my journal! since to Nobody can I be wholly unreserved--to Nobody can I reveal every thought, every ...wish of my heart, with the most unlimited confidence, the most unremitting sincerity to the end of my life! For what chance, what accident can end my connections with Nobody? No secret can I conceal from No--body, and to No--body can I be ever unreserved. Disagreement cannot stop our affection, Time itself has no power to end our friendship. The love, the esteem I entertain for Nobody, No-body's self has not power to destroy. From Nobody I have nothing to fear, the secrets sacred to friendship, Nobody will not reveal, when the affair is doubtful, Nobody will not look towards the side least favourable.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To whom, then, must I dedicate my wonderful, surprising and interesting adventures?--to whom dare I reveal my private opinion of m...y nearest relations? the secret thoughts of my dearest friends? my own hopes, fears, reflections and dislikes?--Nobody!LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We were wise indeed, could we discern truly the signs of our own time; and by knowledge of its wants and advantages, wisely adjust... our own position in it. Let us, instead of gazing idly into the obscure distance, look calmly around us, for a little, on the perplexed scene where we stand. Perhaps, on a more serious inspection, something of its perplexity will disappear, some of its distinctive characters and deeper tendencies more clearly reveal themselves; whereby our own relations to it, our own true aims and endeavours in it, may also become clearer.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »