The stage was our school, our home, our life.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the profound impact of performance and creativity on life.
Lillian Gish's quote conveys how deeply intertwined her identity and upbringing were with the world of theater. It emphasizes the idea that the stage provided not only a platform for artistic expression but also a sense of belonging and education, suggesting that the experiences gained through performance can shape oneβs life significantly.
In practice
In a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of creativity in education.
You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I'm sure I would have played his mother. That's the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.
I never approved of talkies. Silent movies were well on their way to developing an entirely new art form. It was not just pantomine, but something wonderfully expressive.
The older I get, the more I believe in what I can't explain or understand, even more than the things that are explainable and understandable.
I've never been in style, so I can't go out of style.
I was 7, and I remember being given a part in a play and thinking, This is exciting.
It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things.
Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.
If I were able to write, I probably would. But movies have given me a part of my life where I can express feelings and bring convictions to an audience as if I could write. So I made 'Gandhi' about human relations, prejudice and the empire. In 'Cry Freedom' I expressed my horror and disgust about apartheid.
When I read Toni Morrison and Sandra Cisneros as a freshman at Rutgers, it all clicked - that writing was all I wanted to do. It became my calling.
God creates, I do not create. I assemble and I steal everywhere to do it - from what I see, from what the dancers can do, from what others do.
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