Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.
Edward AlbeeRead
That's all that counts. People being sorry. Makes you feel better; gives you a sense of dignity, and that's all that's important; a sense of dignity. And it doesn't matter if you don't care or not, either. You got to have a sense of dignity, even if you don't care, 'cause, if you don't have that, civilization's doomed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining dignity in society, regardless of personal feelings.
Edward Albee's quote highlights the vital role of dignity within civilization. He suggests that feeling remorse or understanding others' sorrow is secondary to the fundamental need for dignity. Without this sense of self-worth and respect for oneself, Albee warns that civilization risks falling into despair and chaos. Therefore, dignity is presented as a critical element for both individual and societal well-being.
Themes
DignitySocietyCivilizationImportanceSelf-Worth
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on ethics and human rights, one might invoke this quote to emphasize the necessity of dignity in society.
More from Edward Albee
All quotes →When 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
What may appear as truth to one person will often appear as untruth to another person. But that need not worry the seeker. When there is honest effort, it will be realised that what appears to be different truths are like apparently different countless leaves of the same tree.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn.
Victor HugoRead
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.Read
You can make the Ring into an allegory of our own time, if you like: and allegory of the inevitable fate that waits for all attempts to defeat evil power by power.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
The wing of the Falcon brings to the king, the wing if the crow brings him to the cemetery.
Muhammad IqbalRead
According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.
PlatoRead