Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied. Arthur Miller More Quotes by Arthur Miller More Quotes From Arthur Miller A play's an interpretation. It is not a report. And that is the beginning of its poetry because, in order to interpret, you have to distort toward a symbolic construction of what happened, and as that distortion takes place, you begin to leave out and overemphasize and consequently deliver up life as a unity rather than as a chaos, and any such attempt, the more intense it is, the more poetic it becomes. Arthur Miller unity play order The enemy is within, and within stays within, and we can't get out of within. Arthur Miller enemy The car, the furniture, the wife, the children - everything has to be disposable. Because you see the main thing today is - shopping. Arthur Miller shopping wife children Man must shape his tools lest they shape him. Arthur Miller shapes tools men A playwright... is... the litmus paper of the arts. He's got to be, because if he isn't working on the same wave length as the audience, no one would know what in hell he was talking about. Arthur Miller writing talking art The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life. Arthur Miller fascinating theater theatre The problem was to sustain at any cost the feeling you had in the theater that you were watching a real person, yes, but an intense condensation of his experience, not simply a realistic series of episodes. Arthur Miller cost real feelings A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself. Arthur Miller journalism inspiration talking I believe in work. If somebody doesn't create something, however small it may be, he gets sick. An awful lot of people feel that they're treading water -- that if they vanished in smoke, it wouldn't mean anything at all in this world. And that's a despairing and destructive feeling. It'll kill you. Arthur Miller work mean believe A playwright lives in an occupied country. And if you can't live that way you don't stay. Arthur Miller playwright country way If a person measures his spiritual fulfillment in terms of cosmic visions, surpassing peace of mind, or ecstasy, then he is not likely to know much spiritual fulfillment. If, however, he measures it in terms of enjoying a sunrise, being warmed by a child's smile, or being able to help someone have a better day, then he is likely to know much spiritual fulfillment. Arthur Miller spiritual mind children The very impulse to write springs from an inner chaos crying for order - for meaning. Arthur Miller writing spring order Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way. Arthur Miller fighting boys way I don't say he's a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person. Arthur Miller dog character fall I would be twenty before I learned how to be fifteen, thirty before I knew what it meant to be twenty, and now at seventy-two I have to stop myself from thinking like a man of fifty who has plenty of time ahead. Arthur Miller men two thinking The task of the real intellectual consists of analyzing illusions in order to discover their causes. Arthur Miller intellectual real order In America, any man who is not a reactionary in his views is open to the charge of alliance with the Red hell. Arthur Miller views men war Controlled hysteria is what's required. To exist constantly in a state of controlled hysteria. It's agony. But everyone has agony. The difference is that I try to take my agony home and teach it to sing. Arthur Miller hysteria agony home Life is an endless, truly endless struggle. There's no time when we're going to arrive at a plateau where the whole thing gets sorted. It's a struggle in the way every plant has to find it's own way to stand up straight. A lot of the time it's a failure. And yet it's not a failure if some enlightenment comes from it. Arthur Miller enlightenment struggle spiritual 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. Arthur Miller class opportunity long
