Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.
Edward AlbeeRead
Few sensible authors are happy discussing the creative process--it is, after all, black magic.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The creative process is often mysterious and difficult to articulate, akin to 'black magic'.
In this quote, Edward Albee suggests that the act of creating art is a complicated and often enigmatic process that defies logical explanation. Authors and artists may struggle to discuss their own creative journeys, as they can feel like they are tapping into something mysterious and profound, much like a form of sorcery or black magic that cannot be fully understood or conveyed.
Themes
Creative ProcessArtMysteryExpressionCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
During a workshop on writing, someone might quote Albee to illustrate the challenges authors face when discussing their craft.
More from Edward Albee
All quotes βWhen a critic sets himself up as an arbiter of morality, a judge of the matter and not the manner of a work, he is no longer a critic; he is a censor.
Edward AlbeeRead
I am convinced that no one is fully educated without a full grounding in the arts.
Edward AlbeeRead
Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it.
Edward AlbeeRead
Remember one thing about democracy. We can have anything we want and at the same time, we always end up with exactly what we deserve.
Edward AlbeeRead
Your source material is the people you know, not those you don't know, but every character is an extension of the author's own personality.
Edward AlbeeRead
Similar quotes
Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.
Martha GrahamRead
It was an accident, although I've been involved in some kind of theatrical function or other since I was a child - in school, music, athletics. To me, acting is the most logical way for people's neuroses to manifest themselves, in this great need we all have to express ourselves. To my way of thinking, an actor's course is set even before he's out of the cradle.
James DeanRead
The trick is not to become somebody else. You become somebody else when you're in front of a camera or when you're on stage. There are some people who carry it all the time. That, to me, is not acting.
Ernest BorgnineRead
I think now that the great thing is not so much the formulation of an answer for myself, for the theater, or the play-but rather the most accurate possible statement of the problem.
Arthur MillerRead
The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
Oscar WildeRead
And its object is Art not power, sub-creation not domination and tyrannous re-forming of Creation.
J. R. R. TolkienRead