A good actor always sets you straight. If you've written a false moment and thought it was probably pretty great, the actor's gonna show you when he gets to that moment. They're the great test of the validity of the material.
Sam ShepardRead
I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. … The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning. That’s genius.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Endings can feel like a trap, while true authenticity lies in recognizing that every ending brings forth a new beginning.
In this quote, Sam Shepard expresses his disdain for definitive endings, suggesting that they often feel forced and unnatural. He advocates for a more honest approach to moments in life, where rather than seeking closure, we embrace the continuity of existence, acknowledging that every ending is inherently linked to a new beginning, and thus celebrating the cyclical nature of experiences.
Themes
EndingsBeginningsPhilosophyMomentsAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech to inspire students about the transition to the next phase of their lives.
More from Sam Shepard
All quotes →I stay away from heavy-handed stuff, the good guy and the bad guy. It just doesn't interest me; all it does is create more fences between people, I think.
Sam ShepardRead
There are places where writing is acting and acting is writing. I'm not so interested in the divisions. I'm interested in the way things cross over.
Sam ShepardRead
Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.
Sam ShepardRead
On stage, you're not limited at all because you're free in language: language is the source of the imagination. You can travel farther in language than you can in any film.
Sam ShepardRead
There's no way to escape the fact that we've grown up in a violent culture, we just can't get away from it, it's part of our heritage. I think part of it is that we've always felt somewhat helpless in the face of this vast continent. Helplessness is answered in many ways, but one of them is violence.
Sam ShepardRead
Similar quotes
Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.
Oswald ChambersRead
Jealousy is the greatest of all evils, and the one that arouses the least pity in the person who causes it.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during the Enlightenment and during the framing of the American Constitution.
Steven PinkerRead
If there is one thing clear about the centuries dominated by the factory and the wheel, it is that although the machine can make everything from a spoon to a landing-craft, a natural joy in earthly living is something it never has and never will be able to manufacture.
Henry BestonRead
No one is helped when cultural critics use their voices irresponsibly.
Roxane GayRead
One of the great fallacies of our time is that the Nazis rose to power because they imposed order on chaos. Precisely the opposite is true - they were successful because they imposed chaos on order. They tore up the commandments, they denied the super-ego, what you will. They said, "You may persecute the minority, you may kill, you may torture, you may couple and breed without love." They offered humanity all its great temptations. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
John FowlesRead