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Edward Albee

Edward Albee Quotes

Playwright

American playwright, known for his unique dramatic style and profound exploration of modern family relationships. Edward Albee's works often involve complex interpersonal relationships and moral dilemmas, and his plays hold a significant place in 20th-century American theater.

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All Play Writing Ifs Thinking People Playwright Knows Art Want Critics Character Should Years Wells Seems Reality Ends Theater Theatre Two

Famous Edward Albee Quotes

“The function of art is to bring people into greater touch with reality, and yet our movie houses and family rooms are jammed with people after as much reality-removal as they can get.”

People Art Reality House Rooms Greater Art Is Function Removal

Book:Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

Source: Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

“The condition of the theater is always an accurate measure of the cultural health of a nation. A play always exists in the present tense (if it is a valuable one), and its music -- its special noise -- is always contemporary. The most valuable function of the theater as an art form is to tell us who we are, and the health of the theater is determined by how much of that we want to know.”

Source: Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

“In a democracy you cannot stop public access to that art that will most misinform the people. You cannot stop people from being misinformed. But what you can do is to educate the people to the point that they will throw the rascals out.”

People Art Can Do Democracy Access Educate Rascals

Book:Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

Source: Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

“I find relatively little relationship between the work of art and the immediate critical response it gets.”

Littles Art Response Critical Works Of Art

Book:Conversations with Edward Albee

Source: Conversations with Edward Albee

“School curricula that ignore the arts produce highly educated Barbarians”

Art School Music Produce Educated Barbarians

Author:Edward Albee

“If you want a commercial success - it's the confusion of commerce with art. A successful play is not considered to be the best written. It is the one that sells the most tickets. Those standards are destructive [to theatre].”

Ifs Want Art Play Successful Written Standards Sells Theatre Confusion Being The Best Destructive Commerce Tickets

Author:Edward Albee

“Art should never try to be popular.”

Should Trying Art

Author:Edward Albee

“I think it is the responsibility of critics to rely less strenuously on, to use a Hollywood phrase, "what they can live with," and more on an examination of the works of art from an aesthetic and clinical point of view.”

Thinking Art Use Views Responsibility Hollywood Critics Point Of View Phrases Rely Works Of Art Aesthetic Examination Clinicals

Book:Conversations with Edward Albee

Source: Conversations with Edward Albee

“The ultimate judgment of a work of art, whether it be a masterpiece or a lesser event, must be solely in terms of its artistic success and not on Freudian guesswork.”

Art Term Events Judgment Ultimate Artistic Works Of Art Masterpiece Guesswork

Book:Conversations with Edward Albee

Source: Conversations with Edward Albee

“If the work of art is good enough, it must not be criticized for its theme. I don't think it can be argued.”

Ifs Thinking Art Enough Art Is Theme Good Enough Works Of Art

Book:Conversations with Edward Albee

Source: Conversations with Edward Albee

“You may dislike the intention enormously but your judgment of the artistic merit of the work must not be based on your view of what it's about. The work of art must be judged by how well it succeeds in its intention.”

Wells May Art Views Succeed Judgment Intention Artistic Merit Works Of Art Dislike Judged

Book:Conversations with Edward Albee

Source: Conversations with Edward Albee

“Art has an obligation to offend”

Author:Edward Albee

“The arts are the only things that separate us from the other animals. The arts are not decorative. ... They are essential to our comprehension of consciousness and ourselves.”

Art Animal Consciousness Essentials Comprehension

Author:Edward Albee

“The thing that makes a creative person is to be creative and that is all there is to it.”

Persons Art Creative Theatre Be Creative Creative Person

Book:Conversations with Edward Albee

Source: Conversations with Edward Albee

“All serious art is being destroyed by commerce. Most people don't want art to be disturbing. They want it to be escapist. I don't think art should be escapist. That's a waste of time.”

People Thinking Want Should Art Serious Waste Art Is Destroyed Wasting Time Commerce Disturbing Escapists

Author:Edward Albee

“The health of a nation, a society, can be determined by the art it demands. We have insisted of television and our movies that they not have anything to do with anything, that they be our never-never land; and if we demand this same function of our live theatre, what will be left of the visual-auditory arts - save the dance (in which nobody talks) and music (to which nobody listens)?”

Ifs Art Left Nations Land Television Demand Function Determined Theatre Crafts Visuals Auditory Live Theatre Never Never Land

Book:Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

Source: Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward Albee

“Art is nowhere near as dangerous as it should be.”

Should Art Dangerous Art Is

Author:Edward Albee

About the Author

Born: March 12, 1928
Died: September 16, 2016
Known for: Playwright
Quotes: 190

Related Topics

Play Writing Ifs Thinking People Playwright Knows Art Want Critics Character Should Years Wells Seems Reality Ends Theater Theatre Two

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Conversations with Edward AlbeeRelated source material

Stretching My Mind: The Collected Essays of Edward AlbeeRelated source material

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: A PlayRelated source material

The Collected Plays of Edward AlbeeRelated source material

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?Related source material

At Home at the Zoo: Homelife and the Zoo StoryRelated source material

Seascape: The Entire Appalling BusinessRelated source material

Tiny AliceRelated source material

At Home at the ZooRelated source material

Edward Albee's Seascape: A Play in Two ActsRelated source material

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