How far should one accept the rules of the society in which one lives? To put it another way: at what point does conformity become corruption? Only by answering such questions does the conscience truly define itself. Kenneth Tynan More Quotes by Kenneth Tynan More Quotes From Kenneth Tynan A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car. Kenneth Tynan beautiful inspirational life A neurosis is a secret that you don’t know you are keeping. Kenneth Tynan keeping-secrets neurosis sanity Show me a congenital eavesdropper with the instincts of a Peeping Tom and I will show you the making of a dramatist. Kenneth Tynan peeping instinct theatre Art and ideology often interact on each other; but the plain fact is that both spring from a common source. Both draw on human experience to explain mankind to itself; both attempt, in very different ways, to assemble coherence from seemingly unrelated phenomena; both stand guard for us against chaos. Kenneth Tynan different spring art A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening. Kenneth Tynan theatre criticism drama All of life is more or less what the French would call s'imposer, to be able to create one's own terms for what one does. Kenneth Tynan able doe life Judge and prosecutor had hammered it home that Lady Chatterly was an immoral woman, that she had had sexual relations before marriage, that she had committed adultery under her husband's roof; as if these charges somehow disqualified her from participation in serious literature. Indeed, there were long periods of the trial during which an outsider might well have assumed that a divorce case was being heard. Kenneth Tynan divorce husband home Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding. Kenneth Tynan strong forever art A villain who shares one's guilt is inevitably more attractive than a hero convinced of one's innocence. Kenneth Tynan innocence guilt hero When a society has doubts about its future, it tends to produce spokesmen whose main appeal is to the emotions, who argue from intuitions, and whose claim to be truth-bearers rests solely on intense personal feeling. Kenneth Tynan intuition doubt feelings It is Ireland's sacred duty to send over, every few years, a playwright to save the English theater from inarticulate glumness. Kenneth Tynan sacred theater years The greatest films are those which show how society shapes man. The greatest plays are those which show how man shapes society. Kenneth Tynan shapes play men We shall be judged by what we do, not by how we felt while we were doing it. Kenneth Tynan judged felt I attacked those Western playwrights who use their influence and affluence to preach to the world the nihilistic doctrine that life is pointless and irrationally destructive, and that there is nothing we can do about it. Until everyone is fed, clothed, housed and taught, until human beings have equal leisure to contemplate the overwhelming fact of mortality, we should not (I argued) indulge in the luxury of "privileged despair." Kenneth Tynan luxury indulge-in despair The buttocks are the most aesthetically pleasing part of the body because they are non-functional. Although they conceal an essential orifice, these pointless globes are as near as the human form can ever come to abstract art. Kenneth Tynan essentials body art All writing is an antisocial act, since the writer is a man who can speak freely only when alone; to be himself he must lock himself up, to communicate he must cut himself off from all communication; and in this there is something always a little mad. Kenneth Tynan cutting communication writing Pearl is a disease of oysters. Levant is a disease of Hollywood. Kenneth Tynan oysters hollywood pearls When you've seen all of Ionesco's plays, I felt at the end, you've seen one of them. Kenneth Tynan felt ends play The unique thing about Margaret Rutherford is that she can act with her chin alone. Among its many moods I especially cherish the chin commanding, the chin in doubt, and the chin at bay. Kenneth Tynan cherish unique doubt Not content to have the audience in the palm of his hand, he goes one further and clenches his fist. Kenneth Tynan performing fists hands
