If I could, Sister James, I would certainly choose to live in innocence. But innocence can only be wisdom in a world without evil. Situations arise and we are confronted with wrongdoing and the need to act.
John Patrick ShanleyDoubt requires more courage than conviction does, and more energy; because conviction is a resting place and doubt is infinite โ it is a passionate exercise. You may come out of my play uncertain. You may want to be sure. Look down on that feeling. Weโve got to learn to live with a full measure of uncertainty. There is no last word. Thatโs the silence under the chatter of our time.
John Patrick ShanleyAll plays stem from personal experience. I was reading psychoanalytic lit for a couple of years, obsessively, in depth, and I got involved in analyzing everyone around me. . . . Eventually, all my friends' eyes began to glaze over when I started talking this way, and I got the hint that there might be something comical in it.
John Patrick Shanley