The writer must be in it; he can't be to one side of it, ever. He has to be endangered by it. His own attitudes have to be tested in it. The best work that anybody ever writes is the work that is on the verge of embarrassing himself, always.

A play is made by sensing how the forces in life simulate ignorance-you set free the concealed irony, the deadly joke.

The witch-hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom. The witch-hunt was not, however, a mere repression. It was also, and as importantly, a long overdue opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly his guilt and sins, under the cover of accusations against the victims.

There is unquestionably a contradiction between an efficient technological machine and the flowering of human nature, of the human personality.

Every time I am reading actors I can pretty well tell which ones have studied with Meisner. It is because they are honest and simple and don't lay on complications that aren't necessary.

People do look to others for some leadership, and it's not bad for them to supply it when they feel that way.

Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it.