Jerusalem is ... the fabled city which for the Western mind is as much dream as stone ... a compressed symbol of our most sublime aspirations along with our most disgusting, hatefully brainless excursions into religious bigotry and fratricide.

An idol tells people exactly what to believe, God presents them with choices they have to make for themselves. The difference is far from insignificant; before the idol men remain dependent children, before God they are burdened and at the same time liberated to participate in the decisions of endless creation.

Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way.

Poor brain! How helplessly it dissolves when willing eyes meet and the nose warms to those old jungle scents.

Just remember, kid, you can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than a word that you gave away.

Immortality is like trying to carve your initials in a block of ice in the middle of July.

My plays are always involved with society, but I'm writing about people, too, and it's clear over the years that audiences understand them and care about them. The political landscape changes, the issues change, but the people are still there. People don't really change that much.