Tennessee Williams Quotes

You should not have too many people waiting on you, you should have to do most things for yourself. Hotel service is embarrassing. Maids, waiters, bellhops, porters and so forth are the most embarrassing people in the world for they continually remind you of inequities which we accept as the proper thing. The sight of an ancient woman, gasping and wheezing as she drags a heavy pail of water down a hotel corridor to mop up the mess of some drunken overprivileged guest, is one that sickens and weighs upon the heart and withers it with shame for this world in which it is not only tolerated but regarded as proof positive that the wheels of Democracy are functioning as they should without interference from above or below. Nobody should have to clean up anybody else’s mess in this world. It is terribly bad for both parties, but probably worse for the one receiving the service.

I'll tell you what I want. Magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misinterpret things to them. I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! - Don't turn the light on!

We have to distrust each other. It is our only defence against betrayal.

Life is all memory except for the one present moment that goes by so quick you can hardly catch it going.

To you, whoever you are, when I am gone — remember to be kind tonight to some lonely person. For me.

Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it.... Success is shy-it won't come out while you're watching.

Symbols are nothing but the natural speech of drama.

It's interesting, isn't it? . . . the chandelier . . . it reminds me of mushroom soup.

You have a spark of anarchy in your spirit and that's not to be tolerated. Nothing wild or honest is tolerated her! It has to be extinguished...

Unattached and aimless, these old men are always infatuated with little certainties and regularities such as those that ordered the life of Mr. Krupper as seen from outside. Habit is living. Anything unexpected reminds them of death.("Hard Candy")

A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with.

Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?

I think that hate is a feeling that can only exist where there is no understanding.

The different people are not like other people, but being different is nothing to be ashamed of. Because other people are not such wonderful people. They're one hundred times one thousand. You're one times one! They walk all over the earth. You just stay here.

High station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace.

A prayer for the wild at heart kept in cages.

Success and failure are equally disastrous.

I believe the way to write a good play is to convince yourself it is easy to do--then go ahead and do it with ease. Don't maul, don't suffer, don't groan till the first draft is finished. A play is a pheonix and it dies a thousand deaths. Usually at night. In the morning it springs up again from its ashes and crows like a happy rooster. It is never as bad as you think, it is never as good. It is somewhere in between, and success or failure depends on which end of your emotional gamut concerning its value it approaches more closely. But it is much more likely to be good if you think it is wonderful while you are writing the first draft. An artist must believe in himself. Your belief is contagious. Others may say he is vain, but they are affected.

When you look at a piece of delicately spun glass you think of two things: how beautiful it is and how easily it can be broken.