Jerome Lawrence Quotes

When you lose the power to laugh, you lose your power to think straight.

Thou shalt not steal the shekels of thine audience with a play which doth not let them know what the hell goeth on.

Cynical? Thats my fascination. I do hateful things, for which people love me, And lovable things for which they hate me. I am a friend of enemies, the enemy of friends; I am admired for my detestability. I am both Poles and the Equator, with no Temperate Zones between.

Is it possible to be overzealous, to destroy that which you hope to save-so that nothing is left but emptiness.

Don't have any opinions. They're bad for business.

Our only competition in the theater is boredom, because if I'm bored with a play, if I'm revolted by a play on stage, with the Broadway prices, especially today, I'm going to walk out and not come back and pay that price again.

It's always such a joy that you wake up in the morning and there's work to do.

In no instance is there to be a musical or opera of Inherit the Wind because it doesn't sing. It's an intellectual play.

Progress has never been a bargain. You have to pay for it. Sometimes I think there's a man who sits behind a counter and says, "All right, you can have a telephone but you lose privacy and the charm of distance. Madam, you may vote but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat. Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline."

The man who has everything figured out is probably a fool.

The aftermath of the war is what inspired us to write many of our plays. The whole reason for our writing Inherit the Wind was that we were appalled at the blacklisting. We were appalled at thought control.

I think enthusiasm is the answer to passionate writing.

All motion is relative. Maybe it's you who've moved away by standing still.

A neurotic is a man who builds a castle in the air. A psychotic is the man who lives in it. A psychiatrist is the man who collects the rent.

If you're going to make a musical, don't cartoon it from the play. Make it better than the play. Have a reason for making it sing.

Darwin was Wrong! Man's still an ape.

You must not demand the failure of your peers, because the more good things that are around in film, in television, in theater - why the better it is for all of us.

An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is more of a miracle than any sticks turned to snakes, or the parting of waters!

I say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially. You can only destroy. You can only punish. I warn you that a wicked law, like cholera, destroys everyone it touches - its upholders as well as its defiers.

The whole point of writing is to have something in your gut or in your soul or in your mind that's burning to be written.

All experience helps when you write.