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Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder Quotes

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Famous Thornton Wilder Quotes

“Yes, now you know. Now you know! That's what it was to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those...of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another. Now you know — that's the happy existence you wanted to go back to. Ignorance and blindness.”

LifeTimeIgnoranceOur TownSimon Stimson
Book:Our Town
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“We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being. -stage manager, in the play OUR TOWN”

PeopleKnowsWayYearsHumansHas BeensPlayEarthHouseNamesStarsHuman BeingsFiveStageThousandEternalLosingTownsBonesManagersThousand YearsOur TownStage ManagersAlways Losing
Book:Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker
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“That’s what it was like to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those...of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another. Now you know- that’s the happy existence you wanted to go back to. Ignorance and blindness. -Simon Stimson, OUR TOWN”

KnowsYearsSelfFeelingsWantedMovingTimePassionExistenceMillionsAliveIgnoranceWasteMercyTownsCloudsWasting TimeBlindnessUp And DownSelf CenteredOur Town
Book:Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker
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“Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

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Book:Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker
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“There are the stars--doing their old, old crisscross journeys in the sky. Scholars haven't settled the matter yet, but they seem to think there are no living beings out there. Just chalk... or fire. Only this one is straining away, straining away all the time to make something of itself. Strain's so bad that every sixteen hours everybody lies down and gets a rest.”

ThinkingMatterSeemsLyingStarsHoursFireJourneySkyHavensDown AndScholarStrainSixteenChalkOur TownEverybody Lies
Book:Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays & Writings on Theater
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“I want you to try and remember what it was like to have been very young. And particularly the days when you were first in love; when you were like a person sleepwalking, and you didn’t quite see the street you were in, and didn’t quite hear everything that was said to you. You’re just a little bit crazy. Will you remember that, please?”

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Book:Our town: a play in three acts
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